ISSN 0798 1015
ISSN 0798 1015
Vol. 40 (Number 24) Year 2019. Page 13
RESHETNIKOVA, Elena G. 1
Received: 21/03/2019 • Approved: 27/06/2019 • Published 15/07/2019
ABSTRACT: The article deals with the study of the food consumption state on the basis of the differentiated approach in the context of increasing external challenges, as well as substantiates the ways to solve the urgent institutional problems concerning the formation of the domestic food aid system. The aim of the study was to develop the institutional component of achieving economic accessibility to food based on the systematization of the most important international and national legal acts aimed at ensuring food security and healthy nutrition. The author considers the goals of institutional planning of domestic food aid, as well as substantiate the objective necessity to coordination when developing strategic documents of the main social development indicators, agrifood complex, and domestic food aid. |
RESUMEN: El artículo aborda el estudio del estado de consumo de alimentos sobre la base del enfoque diferenciado en el contexto de los desafíos externos crecientes, así como las formas de resolver los problemas institucionales urgentes relacionados con la formación del sistema nacional de ayuda alimentaria. El objetivo del estudio fue desarrollar el componente institucional para lograr el acceso económico a los alimentos a partir de la sistematización de los actos legales internacionales y nacionales más importantes destinados a garantizar la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición saludable. El autor considera los objetivos de la planificación institucional de la ayuda alimentaria nacional, así como la necesidad objetiva de coordinación al desarrollar documentos estratégicos de los principales indicadores de desarrollo social, el complejo agroalimentario y la ayuda alimentaria interna. |
Issues of optimizing food consumption are constantly in the focus of international organizations and national governments, which are concerned about the current trends in food consumption. Since the 90s of the 20th century, a number of important international documents have been adopted. Their main ideas are reflected in national legal acts. Among the most important international documents aimed at improving the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of food consumption, one should distinguish the following: United Nations Millennium Declaration, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Rome Declaration on Nutrition and an accompanying technical Framework for Action to guide its implementation adopted at the FAO (The UN Food and Agricultural Organization) International Conference on Nutrition. At the meeting of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly held on September 25, 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted (The transformation of our world, 2015). The document includes 17 goals and 169 targets. The following goals, the implementation of which is aimed at optimizing the food consumption, can be distinguished: Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, as well as promote sustainable agriculture; Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Russia is constantly developing its regulatory framework for food security. There are documents of federal importance, such as the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the State Policy Framework of the Russian Federation in the Field of the Healthy Nutrition for the period up to 2020, the Strategy of National Security of the Russian Federation until 2020, the Federal Law on Consumer Basket in the Russian Federation as a whole, the Norms of physiological requirements for energy and nutrients for various population groups of the Russian Federation, etc., as well as regulations at the regional level.
In section 2 "The concept of food security, basic terms and definitions" of the Food Security Doctrine approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 30, 2010 No. 120, food security of the country is considered as a state of the economy in which food independence is ensured, as well as physical and economic accessibility of food products that meet the requirements of technical regulations, is guaranteed to the population of the country in amounts not lower than rational consumption standards (The Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, 2010). In the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020, food security is the main area to provide national security in the medium term (National security strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020, n. d.). In the Scientific and Technological Development Strategy of Russia, it is noted that the need to ensure food security and independence of Russia, as well as the competitiveness of domestic products in the world food markets, are the most important challenges in terms of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation (Scientific and technological development strategy of the Russian Federation, n. d.).
The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on the works of Russian and foreign authors, who consider the problems of strategic planning of food consumption, economic availability of basic food products, and improving the institutional aspects of the implementation of domestic food aid.
Starting with classical theories of demand and consumption by E. Engel (1881), J. Keynes (1936), F. Modigliani (1961), and I. Fisher (1930), the factor of monetary income was considered as determining in the implementation of the consumer choice. The new institutional economic theory, increasing the importance of subjective factors, such as for example, psychological factors, as in the theory of the Nobel Prize winner in Economics D. Kanneman, does not dispute this thesis (Kahneman et al., 1999; Kahneman and Tversky, 2000; Kahneman, 2011). Contemporary studies of the influence of income and consumption differentiation on economic growth have several aspects: the study of the relationship of normal and redundant inequality and economic growth (Shevyakov and Kiruta, 2002); regularities that underlie consumer choice (Mayevsky and Chernavsky, 2007); the relationship of economic growth and structural changes with long-term changes in consumer behavior (Saviotti, 2001; Pasinetti, 1993); and the explanation of the evolution of consumption and demand not only owing to utility theory, but also with the help of behavioral and cognitive psychology (Witt, 2001a; 2001b). The contemporary Russian economic literature considers the problems of income and consumption differentiation, factors of macro- and microlevel inequality (Kostyleva, 2011), theoretical and methodological aspects of the formation of the domestic food aid institution, and its role in state support of the national agrifood complex and social protection of the low-income members of society (Shakhnazaryan, 2015).
The conducted study is based on the dialectical method of knowledge, which allows considering the issues of food consumption development with reference to the functioning of all sectors and links of the agrifood complex, the social processes’ dynamics, and state of endogenous and exogenous factors of the national economic system. Other research methods include monographic, economic-statistical, and abstract-logical methods. The authors used also program-target and normative methods, grouping method, and input-output balance method.
The so-called Roman principles established by the World Summit of 2009 are particularly important for the international integrated solutions to the food security problem. The essence of the third principle is the need to implement a two-pronged approach that allows bringing together operational measures, as well as medium- and long-term food security programs. Putting into practice this principle in Russia involves not only the implementation of operational measures to eliminate the malnutrition or unbalanced nutrition, but also the modernization of long-term programs for food consumption, the legislative consolidation of rational standards as the level of basic food products’ consumption guaranteed by the state. The main threat to food security in contemporary conditions is a consumption transformation when obtaining the minimum required amount of calories in the diet significantly reduces the satisfaction of other basic needs. The level of real income of the population inhibits the growth of effective demand for products of agribusiness complex.
In the near future, Russia plans to start implementing the idea of domestic food aid. The objective necessity of this process stems from the analysis of the current state of food consumption. The purchase of food products in consumer spending of Russian households in 2016 amounted to 32.3%, an increase compared to 2015, with a significant differentiation of this indicator for groups with different income levels. In the first group with the lowest income, the proportion of expenditure for food amounted to 49.2% of total consumer expenditure, while in the tenth group this indicator was 19.9%. It should be noted that in 2017 the situation in food consumption had slightly improved. The purchase of food products in consumer spending of Russian households in 2017 amounted to 31.2%, a decrease compared to the previous year. In the first group with the lowest income, the proportion of food expenditure was 48.1% of the total consumer expenditure, while in the tenth group this figure was 18.4% 21 (Social status and standard of living of the population of Russia, 2017) (Table 1).
Table 1
The main parameters of food consumption in households of different welfare
levels in Russia in 2016-2017 (average per consumer per year, kg)
Foodstuffs |
2016 |
2017 |
||
A 10% group with the minimum income |
A 10% group with the maximum income |
A 10% group with the minimum income |
A 10% group with the maximum income |
|
Bread and bread products |
91.5 |
99.5 |
91.8 |
97.1 |
Potatoes |
53.9 |
60.8 |
54.1 |
59.7 |
Vegetables and melons |
66.2 |
133.9 |
67.3 |
129.4 |
Fruit and berries |
37.3 |
103.1 |
38.8 |
101.9 |
Meat and meat products |
54.6 |
110.3 |
56.1 |
110.9 |
Milk and dairy products |
175.9 |
334.9 |
173.5 |
110.9 |
Eggs, pcs. |
165 |
276 |
171 |
277 |
Fish and fish products |
13.3 |
26.9 |
13.6 |
26.8 |
Sugar and confectionery |
24.7 |
34.8 |
25.1 |
34.2 |
Vegetable oil and other fats |
9.2 |
11.3 |
9.1 |
11.7 |
Caloric content of the daily food consumption (kcal per day per person) |
2,044.8 |
3,007.2 |
2,069.4 |
2,984.0 |
The proportion of food purchases’ expenses in total household expenditure (%) |
49.2 |
19.9 |
48.1 |
18.4 |
Source: Food consumption in households of different composition
and level of welfare in the Russian Federation in 2017, n. d.
In 2017, the caloric content of the daily food consumption in the first 10% group with minimum income was 2069.4 kcal. According to the FAO norms, the minimum caloric diet, below which malnutrition takes place, is 1819 calories a day. For the climatic conditions of Russia, this figure should be higher, i.e. in the first income group, the daily caloric content approaches to the threshold value.
The represented data show that the level of consumption of low-income groups of the population is quite close to the thresholds. This requires the active development of the food aid system. Target-oriented food aid is a tool to ensure stable demand for food products, improve the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of food in low-income groups, and support domestic producers. It is also important to increase the subsistence minimum and minimum wage amount as a prerequisite for ensuring economic access to food, which is constrained by rising food inflation. In order to improve the domestic aid planning and forecasting efficiency, it is important to develop basic methods of strategic planning of the agrifood complex. In the framework of the input-output balance method, this involves use of a modified model of inter-sectoral balance of the agrifood complex, which allows coordinating the parameters of income of the population in the context of social and family groups, and personal consumption of basic food products with the production volumes of the national agribusiness complex and food imports.
One way to improve the efficiency of the adopted legal documents in the functioning of the agrifood complex is the development of institutional planning (Sukharev, 2017). The essence of the "institutions" concept is understood as the rules and regulations created by people, and determining the development strategy of the reproductive process, as well as the nature of economic and social relations (Nort, 1993; Ménard, 1996). Institutional planning is aimed at developing a system of institutions, which are necessary for the implementation of strategic and tactical goals of the economic system development, and its most important component, namely the agrifood complex. Institutional planning of food consumption is intended to justify the introduction of new and improvement of existing institutions to implement an integrated approach when solving problems related to the economic accessibility of basic food products’ consumption.
In order to create and establish a viable state system of domestic food aid, in particular, the regulatory component of its institutional system, it is necessary to use such a concept as the institutions’ transplantation (Lebedev, 2017). The institutions' transplantation theory is important with regard to the formation of the domestic food aid system since considerable practices in this area have been accumulated abroad. Institutions used for example in the United States, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the National School Lunch Program, and others are quite attractive for transplantation. Before becoming a nationwide program, many of them have been piloted in certain states as a pilot project.
In order to ensure new and modernize existing institutions, as well as to work the entire system for the end result, it is necessary to improve the strategic planning of the parameters under consideration. Among the shortcomings of the current strategic planning, researchers often refer to the fact that the existing system is of periodical nature (Budovich, 2015).
To solve the accumulated problems with respect to the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of nutrition, it is important to use an integrated approach to the development of the social block in the most important strategic planning documents. The Concept of Long-term Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation until 2020 focuses on a contemporary problem, such as a significant differentiation of living standards, income, and consumption in the socio-family and regional context (The Concept of Long-Term Social and Economic Development, 2008). For effective interaction of institutions related to the development of the social sector, it is advisable to reflect in Section 8 of the Concept of the Development of Social Institutions and Social Policy the projected change of the Gini index as a universal indicator of the uneven distribution of income in society, which will show the strategic development prospects of the middle class.
According to researchers (Gumerov, 2017), it is necessary to improve a document in the field of strategic planning of basic food products’ consumption development, such as the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation that is extremely important.
The analysis of the draft of Food Security Doctrine of 2008, the text of the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, and additions of 2015-2018 allows drawing a conclusion that methodological approaches to the food security problem are constantly developing (The Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, 2010; Draft of Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, n. d.; On amendments in the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, 2010). The authors believe that insufficient attention has been paid to social risks in the 2018 additions to the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation. It is necessary to reflect in this important document of strategic planning all types of social risks and, above all, the consumption crisis as a result of high rates of income differentiation in the socio-family, territorial (city, village), and regional (between regions of the country) aspects.
An important place in the institutional component of the state regulation of the agrifood complex development is occupied by the State Program for the Development of Agriculture and Regulation of Agricultural Products, Raw Materials, and Food Markets. The State Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2013-2020, presenting a tool of strategic planning and reflecting the emergence of new challenges and threats, is adjusted in the course of its functioning (On amendments to the State Program for the Development, 2014). The state program of agricultural development has been transferred to project management since 2018 (On modification of the State Program for the Development, 2017). The new version of the State Program defines five main goals, including ensuring food security of Russia, taking into account the economic and territorial availability of agribusiness products, and a significant increase in the available resources of households in rural areas that is important to reduce social risk, such as the gap in living standards between the city and rural areas. However, in the new edition of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture, there is no section dealing with the issues concerning the organization of domestic food aid. In preparation for the practical implementation of the state system of domestic food aid, the presence of such a section is especially necessary.
To optimize the food consumption, it is necessary to increase the final products of the national agrifood complex, implement the import substitution policy, improve the state revenue and tax policy, promote reasonable consumption and a healthy lifestyle, form the state food aid system which would provide food support to the most vulnerable segments of the population and stable demand for the products of the national agribusiness complex, as well as to ensure state support for small agribusiness. The state system of domestic food aid should include not only a food certificate program for people with income below the subsistence minimum, but also target-oriented programs to support population categories the most in need of nutrition.
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1. Laboratory of development strategy of the institutional environment of the agroindustrial complex, RAS Institute for Agrarian Problems, Moskovskaya St., 94, Saratov, 410012, Russia. E-mail: reshetnikova_t.i@mail.ru