Russia's Food Security Doctrine and Its Consequences

Impact of US and EU Sanctions:

The FAO Global food price index completed 2021 28.1 percent above its 2020 level, seeing its second-highest level in the last decade. The decline in yield and the stronger demand around the world were effective in this rise. About 20 million people in Russia live below the poverty line. For this reason, the stability of food prices is very important for Russia. That's why Putin introduced price controls on basic foodstuffs last year. At the beginning of 2021, it announced an export quota for wheat.

Exports of basic foodstuffs such as wheat to Russia started after the US and EU embargoes. Russia, which has banned most western food imports in response to US and EU sanctions, has focused heavily on developing domestic agriculture since 2014. According to World Trade Organization data, agricultural products such as wheat accounted for approximately 8 percent of Russia's $419 billion exports in 2019.

However, Russia still lacks the infrastructure to stockpile food at the same level as the US or Europe. Complementing this shortcoming is contained in the second Food Security Doctrine. If Russia closes its deficit in this area, it will be able to store the extra production and prevent price increases.

Russia's National Security Concept

The “Russian Federation National Security Concept” replaced the “Russian Federation National Security Strategy” in May 2010, which is one of the most important documents to ensure the security of its citizens. Part of this was the Russian Federation's Food Security Doctrine, signed by President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. This document determined the Agricultural Policy of Russia until 2020.

general policy

The basic and primary duty of every developed state is to ensure the security of its people in all areas such as food, energy, water and environment. Discussions on Food Security in Russia were initiated by deputies of the Communist Party in the 1990s. In the discussions, some argued that food security could be easily achieved without imported products by developing domestic production, while others argued that some important non-domestic food products could be imported.

Unexpectedly, in 2010, on the eve of the presidential election, Dmitry Medvedev approved the Russian Food Security Doctrine, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture. This document set priorities to ensure the long-term development of the food market with import substitution.

In fact, the Food Security Doctrine was made under Boris Yeltsin. However, Yeltsin did not approve the document and cited the lack of sufficient financial resources for the agro-industrial complex in the country as the reason.

Doctrine Expectations and Realized Goals

According to the First Food Security Doctrine, Russia has set the following targets until 2020;

To achieve complete social satisfaction by using all resources for the production of basic foods;
To ensure the availability of basic food for all;
Reducing the share of people's food expenditures in their income;
To guarantee the quality of food products;
To prevent the spread of genetically modified foods;
Increasing the government's food product reserves

Economists in Russia stated that the first of the goals in the Doctrine was more accepted, while goals such as self-sufficiency and price and quality were less realizable. According to experts, the food safety program was completed ahead of schedule and by 2018, the problems posed by internal and external threats to food security had been resolved. Negative relations with the West played an important role in the development of domestic production in food. The sanctions imposed on Russia contributed to the rapid development of compensatory measures and import substitution. After the food embargo was introduced, very positive developments took place in the development of the agricultural sector in Russia.

After the implementation of these doctrines, the share of some domestic products in the Russian market reached almost 90%. Many agricultural products became competitive. The demand for these products has increased. The speed of this agricultural development enabled the needs of the population to be met and a significant amount of domestic products to be exported in line with the goals in the doctrine.

future plans

Analysts and leading economists of the country are of the opinion that the program implemented under the Food Security Doctrine fully fulfills its function. During the implementation of agricultural production plans, Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This development revealed the need to revise the Food Security Doctrine by taking into account the commercial relations with other countries.

Some officials state that the Doctrine has accelerated the achievement of many goals, but that it has not fully achieved an important goal such as the economic affordability of agricultural products. According to statistics, every Russian citizen spends more than a third of his monthly income on food products. some region 

In some cases, this rate can go up to about half of people's monthly income. In developed European countries, this rate remains stable at 6-8%. Experts from the Defense Policy Council have also suggested that the time has come to create a new food security document by the end of 2020. Considering the developments, these experts suggested to focus on the following points in the new Doctrine:

Increasing export demand in food production;
Increasing export volume;
To take long-term control of the use of water resources
To support local seed production;
To give priority to education and scientific solutions in the food sector;
Bringing regulatory documents in the food field to EAEU standards;
Supporting small and medium-sized businesses in commerce.

In addition, among the recommendations of the experts was the need for a roadmap to draw a detailed scenario plan to achieve each objective.

Updated Second Food Security Doctrine

Russia's second updated Food Security Doctrine was signed by President Putin on January 21, 2020. In this Doctrine, which will replace the Doctrine adopted in 2010, the protection of Russia from genetically modified seed imports was addressed as a matter of national interest in the field of food security. The doctrine also strictly prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms in agricultural production, horticulture and animal feed.

In addition, vegetables, melon and gourd are included in the scope of products requiring self-sufficiency at a rate of 90%, fruits and strawberries at a rate of 60%, and seeds at a rate of 75%. The doctrine also included an instruction to develop and approve the roadmap within three months for the implementation of these provisions.

Conclusion:

The New Doctrine also lists the achievement of a trade balance with a surplus in agricultural products. In addition to providing domestic self-sufficiency in food, it also aims to realize the export potential of such goods within the Eurasian Economic Union, taking into account the export potential.

Russia has also taken targets such as digital agriculture, storage capacity, agro-industrial complexes among the targets of the second doctrine. Since 2017, Russia has been subsidizing the logistics of agricultural products within the country in different ways.

Russia's Food Security Doctrines and targets set for some foods and their realization rates are given in the table below.

Reference:

https://year2020.bigbadmole.com/en/doktrina-prodovolstvennoj-bezopasnosti-rossii-do-2020-goda/