Ranked Assessment of Food Security in the Volga Fede­ral District Regions

Introduction. Food security issues are among the top priorities of the state policy of the Russian Federation. Scientific research aimed at solving these issues has become particularly relevant after the introduction of a huge number of sanctions against our country, which also affected the agricultural sector. An assessment of food security is also required by noticeably accelerated inflation, which may lead to a decrease in the economic availability of food. The purpose of the study is to assess the food security of the subjects of the Volga Federal District on the basis of an integrated methodology. Materials and Methods. The information base was Rosstat data, as well as materials from reputable open sources. The assessment was carried out based on the latest published complete data on the indicators included in the methodology. The use of a critical approach and logical techniques made it possible to generalize well-known methods and develop an author's approach; the standardization method – to bring indicators reflecting different phenomena into a comparable form; structural analysis – to assess the level of self-sufficiency of the region with food, as well as the sufficiency and balanced nutrition of the population. The ranking method is to distribute regions according to the level of food safety. The originality of the proposed approach lies in taking into account the fundamental provisions of the Russian Food Security Doctrine, standardizing indicators, reflecting the structure of balanced nutrition, and accounting for excess consumption. Results. The assessment of food security according to the proposed methodology based on data for 2023 showed that the food security of the Russian Federation is ensured by 76 % (the main limiting factor is the low economic availability of food). The leader in the Volga Federal District is the Republic of Tatarstan, whose food safety is estimated at 80 % (the largest gap from the target was identified as nutrition). The top three also include the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Udmurt Republic (the final index is 0.78 of each, with constraints such as reduced economic accessibility in the first case and insufficient local production in the second). Completing the local ranking are Perm Territory (70 %, the main deterrent factor is a low level of self-sufficiency), Samara Region (67 %, the largest gap from the goal is the physical availability of food) and Saratov Region (67 %, the main deterrent factor is the low standard of living in the region). Discussion and Conclusion. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that a unique methodology for assessing regional food security has been proposed and tested, which allows for quantitative measurement, and therefore ensures the conduct of inter-regional comparisons and analysis of dynamics. The practical significance of the results obtained is determined by the possibility of their use in substantiating the decisions taken, and the proposed methodological approach in monitoring the food security of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The limitation in carrying out a quantitative assessment of regional food security is the specifics of the organization of state statistical accounting (the complete data required for this are published by Rosstat with a frequency of 1 every 2 years). In the course of constructive discussion on the pages of scientific journals, the methodology can be improved.