An economic analysis of food security and the prospects for the development of the regional agricultural and food market
Importance Currently, providing the population with the sufficient amount and variety of foodstuff is a complex problem, involving a set of issues of food stuff production, import dependence and export-oriented food market, the population's solvency and population's food patterns. Objectives The article aims to analyze the factors of formation and development trends of the Stavropol Territory agro-food market, evaluation of its factor of dependence on import supply of certain types of product, and also to identify the promising directions of more complete food-stuff saturation. Methods The research studies the system of economic relations aimed at the formation and development of the agricultural raw materials and food products market under the conditions of the special economic measures, which were undertaken to ensure the Russian Federation security. The research was carried out on the basis of dialectical, abstract and logical, and comparative methods while using factor analysis of official statistical information, and the study of the scientific publications' data. Results The analysis's findings determined the market capacity and the level of self-sufficiency of the Stavropol Territory in terms of the basic types of food products. It was found that the population's needs in food products saturation for their certain types are carried out at an undervalued level. It was revealed that the Stavropol Territory is an active participant in inter-regional and international markets. There are substantial amounts of counter-deliveries on the same product groups, which are explained by the predominance in balance of agricultural raw materials of production of low-added value products and import of food products of high-level processing. This development characterizes the low level and considerable reserves of food industry development. The main measures of the food market protection were defined as follows: agricultural production diversification, industrial and logistics infrastructure development of the region's agrarian market. Conclusions and Relevance The findings can be used by regional government authorities in the process of improving the regulation system of an internal agro-food market.