Food security problems for developing countries in the conditions of COVID-19: case of Georgia

Introduction. Food security has not been a concern of any particular state and is a global problem for already a long time. It, as an economic category in the scientific literature, is considered from the position of ensuring the security of the global world problem, regions, individual countries, population groups and individual people. It is a multifaceted issue, closely linked to other security issues, and has a great impact on the national safety situation, which in turn is an economic, social and political category. COVID-19 has created a large-scale economic crisis. The pandemic has had a major impact on food security and the field of nutrition. The crisis has affected food systems and threatened public access to food, raising the issue of food self-sufficiency in countries.Aim and tasks. In order to assess food security, the paper examines the self-sufficiency coefficients of basic agro-food products in Georgia under the conditions of the World Pandemic, and evaluates its components: local production, import, export. In addition, local production trends have been analyzed, Results. Thus a study of the current state of the agro-food sector shows that the problem of providing the population with food is becoming more acute. The pace of development of the agro-food sector lags significantly behind the growth rates of other sectors of the economy. The current economic growth has not yet created the conditions for sustainable economic development: The level of supply of essential agro-food products is quite low, the number of jobs has not increased substantially, the level of income is low, poverty rates are still high and the food deficit is filled mainly with imported products.Conclusions. This study showed that the issue of the food security is still unresolved for Georgia. Despite the state support activities, the agro-food sector still needs assistance. We have developed recommendations, the consideration of which will significantly contribute to food supply of the markets and food supply to the population. Keywords: agro-food products, local production, food independence, self-sufficiency coefficients.