DOI: https://doi.org/10.62204/2336-498X-2023-2-3

FOOD SECURITY MANAGEMENT AS A COMPONENT

OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF AN UKRAINIAN

AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE

Dmytro Diachkov,

Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Professor,

Poltava State Agrarian University, Ukraine,

dmytro.dyachkov@pdau.edu.ua; ORCID: 0000-0002-2637-0099

Rymma Ahakerimova,

Ph.D. student,

Poltava State Agrarian University, Ukraine,

rymma.ahakerimova@pdau.edu.ua; ORCID: 0009-0000-8353-8110

Yuriy Chuhuy,

Master’s degree student,

Poltava State Agrarian University, Ukraine,

yurii.chuhui@st.pdau.edu.ua; ORCID: 0009-0006-5447-7084

Annotation. The article outlines the urgency of the ensuring food security problem of especially in the context of economic, political and military aggression. Given the approaches to defining the essence and role of food security, it was proposed to consider it from four aspects: as a form of food supply to the population of a certain territory; as an agricultural activity involving the use of innovative methods of agricultural production; as an element of ensuring the economic stability of the country; as a component of national and global security. The author defines the place of food security in the system of general security, the key factors that form it, and outlines a basic list of directions for improving the level of food security.

Keywords: agriculture, agri-food sector, economic security, food products, food security,, global economy, national economy.

Formulation of the problem. The current trends in the development of Ukraine and other countries, especially in the context of economic, political and military aggression, necessitate the formation of a reliable protection system in various fields of activity. Food security is no exception, as under these conditions it acquires not only national but also global significance, since economic, social processes, processes of ensuring trade in food products and their logistics determine the economic and sometimes national interests of international actors. In view of the above factors, we should also take into account the aspect that the food problem has long been a global problem, not just a problem of a particular state. It is also necessary to take into account the actors involved in ensuring food security, since the main one is the agri-food sector of the country, which is one of the vital sectors of the economy and supplies food, processed food and agricultural raw materials to the commodity market. Agricultural enterprises are complexly organized, multi-purpose, dynamic, open, probabilistic ecological, social and economic systems characterized at the current stage of their development by heterogeneity of structural composition, diversity of inter- and intra- sectoral relations, and the presence of several functional and organisational subsystems. At the same time, in the context of the country’s international integration and recurrent global economic processes, the sustainability of production in agricultural organisations comes first as the basis for food security, export potential, provision of food to the population and raw materials to industry, and, accordingly, economic security, which, in turn, is the basis of national security.

Analysis of recent research and publications. Trends in providing food products to the country’s population indicate food security problems that arise due to the country’s low level of economic development, the underdevelopment of its own closed technological cycle of agrarian production and processing, which was established in the low productivity of agricultural sectors, the use of mainly extensive factors in the management of the agro-industrial complex, lagging behind labor productivity in from a similar indicator in leading countries. In order to solve the mentioned problems and ensure food security, it is necessary to automatized and digitalized the production of agricultural products based on the introduction of innovative technologies, to conduct international trade effectively, and to update state support measures for producers in a timely manner. Today, for Ukraine, the primary tasks in solving the problem of ensuring the country’s food security were increasing the efficiency of domestic agricultural production, developing the food and processing industry, improving the mechanism of state regulation of the agro-food market, as well as implementing a foreign trade policy appropriate to the interests of national producers, taking into account the conditions of martial law. For this purpose, it is necessary to strengthen the national security of the country by strengthening its food component as an element of the economic security of the state, since the latter in many aspects determines the country’s defense capability.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to:

− characterise the concept of food security;

− define the relationship between food security and economic security;

− defining the place of food security in the system of overall security;

− outlining the main directions of food security management of agri-food enterprises in order to improve its level.

Statement of the basic materials of the research. The subject area of the essence concept of food security forms a wide range of interpretations of its definitions. In general terms, food security is one of the national security’ foundations and an important area of development of the economy’ agricultural sector, as in the broadest sense it is seen as the permanent ability of the state, society and enterprises (including the agri-food sector) to stably provide the country’s population with food in the amount and quality necessary for a full life, regardless of adverse external and internal influences [1; 3].

According to the definition of «food security» in international agreements, it is a state of the economy in which everyone was guaranteed access to food, drinking water and other products in a variety of assortments and volumes sufficient for the physical and social development of the individual, ensuring the health and reproduction of the country’s population [6; 10]. When studying the scientific national literature, food security was considered as a specific ecological, economic and social state of the state, in which the availability of food in the required quantity, assortment and appropriate quality fully meets the needs and accessibility of all segments of the population, maintaining the highest level of their health, regardless of the external and internal factor’s impact [9; 15]. Since food security affects a number of social, demographic and environmental aspects of the country’s life, it was also considered an integral part of national security [5]. Therefore, the group of authors believes that the main feature of food security was the provision of the country’s population with basic foodstuffs in accordance with physiological consumption norms.

At the same time, there is a significant number of scientific works devoted to the definition of food security through the assessment of its economic indicators [5; 8; 11]. Therefore, the system of ensuring food security of the territory was associated with solving legal and socio-economic problems, protecting the economic interests of domestic producers, improving the financial and tax mechanism, modernizing technical and technological supply, state support for the agricultural sector, developing the food market infrastructure, forming human resources capable of mastering innovations, etc.

In addition, food security was associated with one of the strategic components of the state’s national security, the provision of which was defined as the main priority of agricultural policy [2; 5; 7; 14].

Quite interesting is the approach of the authors, who define food security as the most important condition for preserving the sovereignty and independence, economic stability and social sustainability of the country, i.e. food security was also a factor in maintaining the conditions of national and regional food markets, which ensure a sufficient level of balanced nutrition of the population and effective development of foreign trade food and raw materials, strengthening the export orientation of the agro-industrial complex.

The concept of food security was considered through a system of market instruments, presenting it as a state of supply and demand for agricultural raw materials and food products, with supply ensured by national production and permissible volumes of official imports, as well as the creation by the state of conditions to ensure the physical and economic availability of food products in accordance with quality standards and physiological norms for all categories of consumers [4; 12; 13; 16; 17].

It was important to note that to ensure domestic food security, of course, a developed production sector that could produce competitive agricultural products is required, as well as the development of infrastructure in the fields of engineering and industry, and the production of mineral fertilizers and chemicals. Thus, the problem of food security was multifaceted, and therefore needs to be considered in a complex of related issues, as food self-sufficiency is influenced by many factors.

Summarizing these developments, it can be determined that in its economic content, food security covers four main components of the conditions for its achievement (Fig. 1), and the following should be considered the main generally accepted basic criteria for food security:

− production by domestic producers of 75-80% of the main types of food products from the total volume of all products;

− consumption by the population of biologically complete products with the required level of calories;

− creation of food reserves at the level of only 20% of total consumption.

Fig. 1. Key conditions for the formation and maintenance of food security

[developed by the authors on the basis of 3; 4; 6; 12-15]

 

Practice has shown that food security was an important area not only for scientific research but also for public policy, as it is a powerful geopolitical factor and the main tool for ensuring the sustainability of the country’s socio-economic processes. Therefore, it can be stated that food security is an independent area of security science, an element of the country’s economic security and a component of national security. Accordingly, it was advisable to identify the following interrelated areas of formation of food security as a category:

− food security as a direction of providing food to the population of a certain territory;

− food security as an agricultural activity that involves the use of innovative methods of agrarian production, processing and other processes (through digitalisation, automation, biotechnology, etc.) to provide the population with quality and sufficient food;

− food security as a direction of ensuring the economic stability of the country; − food security as a component of global and national security (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Areas of food security formation as a category of security science and practical aspects of protection of the individual, enterprise, society, and country

[developed by the authors on the basis of 1-6; 8; 10; 14-17]

Despite the fact that food security was distinguished as a separate element of national security, it should be noted that food security, being a socio-economic category, is also a direction of economic and social security. Therefore, it interacts with other types of security to form economic, and thus indirectly national and global security (Fig. 3).

Thus, food security should be defined as a system of economic, organisational, technological, social, environmental and other factors aimed at the stable functioning of the agro-industrial complex in order to meet the needs of the country’s population with diverse, environmentally friendly and competitive food products in accordance with scientifically sound standards, create the necessary insurance reserves and export surplus products. At the same time, food security is the most important component of national and state security and characterises the economic and political independence of the country, its ability to meet the needs of citizens to ensure national and state security through the formation of strategic directions of agricultural policy.

As the areas of improving food security develop, the list of tasks to ensure it expands, including

− ensuring sustainable development of agricultural production, raw materials and food necessary to ensure food independence based on the principles of science-based planning;

− intensification of innovation processes to ensure conditions for expanded reproduction of production in the agricultural sector;

− state administrative, political and financial support of agri-food sector entities;

− ensuring the reliability, i.e. the ability of the national food system to minimise the impact of seasonal, weather and other fluctuations on the food supply of the country’s population;

− timely forecasting, detection and prevention of internal and external threats to food security, minimisation of their negative consequences through constant readiness of the food supply’ system to citizens, formation of strategic food stocks;

− ensuring the physical and economic availability of food necessary for the formation of a healthy diet for the population;

− production of safe agricultural products and formation of an appropriate level of food safety;

− realisation of the export potential, taking into account the priority of self-sufficiency of the country with domestic agricultural products, as well as the need to ensure food security;

− development of rural infrastructure;

− improving the system of training for agricultural enterprises;

− formation of the healthy lifestyle’s principles;

− development of fundamental and applied research in the field of agricultural sector development and formation of an effective system of food security management as an element of economic security.

Thus, ensuring the implementation of these areas of development of the agri-food sector will create a strong basis for improving food security, and, accordingly, will create preconditions for strengthening the country’s economic potential, which in turn will affect the level of national and global security of the state.

 

Fig. 3. The place of food security in the overall security system

[developed by the authors on the basis of  1-4; 6-9; 11; 13; 15-17]

Conclusions and recommendations. The importance of developing and implementing a strategy for the development of food security in the Ukrainian agro-food sector is due to the need to create favourable conditions for the development of domestic food production, introduction of high-tech technologies in the industry, reduction of dependence on imported food, transformation of the agro-industrial complex into a highly efficient, export-oriented stable sector of the national economy at the domestic and international levels.

In accordance with the objectives of the study, it was determined that food security should be considered as a socio-economic category in the system of economic, organisational, social and other factors that accelerate or slow down the development of the agro-industrial complex as a guarantor of food security, provide food to the population of a certain territory, and ensure the economic stability of the country by meeting the needs of the population for food and ensuring the competitiveness of the state through the export of rural products. Despite the fact that food security was distinguished as a separate element of national security, it should be noted that food security, being a socio-economic category, is also a direction of economic and social security. Therefore, it, interacting with other types of security, forms economic, and thus indirectly national and global security.

The article identifies a list of areas for improving the level of food security, including: development of agri-food sector entities, its innovation; state administrative, political and financial support for agrarian business; realisation of export potential; improvement of the personnel training system for agricultural enterprises; development of fundamental and applied research in the field of agricultural sector development and formation of an effective food security management system as an element of economic security.

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