Assessment of the economic availability of food in Russia in the context of food security

Abstract

The Russian Doctrine of Food Security is built within the framework of the international approach, where food security is understood not only in its specific Russian context but also as economic accessibility for “everyone” to safe and adequate nutrition (interpreted in Russia by rational norms). However, the question of how accessible adequate food is to “everyone” in Russia remains unexplored. This article applies an approach to assessing the economic access of “everyone” to food based on the ratio of food expenditures (at home, out of home, cost of natural inputs) and the cost of a rational food set in households. The calculation takes into account the age and gender composition of households, which leads to the differentiation of a unified rational food set per person in the family, as well as the economy of scale, where families with more members require less expenditure per person to provide adequate nutrition. These calculations allowed for the assessment of the population share with varying levels of food access in Russia and its regions, determining food shortage in households at a spatial level, which is valuable for discussing the organization of food aid in the Russian Federation. This approach has led to a significant reassessment of the situation regarding food security of families across the country and its regions, providing additional arguments in discussing forms of aid for low-income families.