Food security policies in international agricultural development: An overview on objectives and instruments applied

The concept of food security underlines the importance of purchasing power and improved access to food in order to fight hunger. Food security policies can contribute to increased food production and income generation and to improved employment and education. The choice of the best instrument - food subsidies, food for work or food security programmes - in a specific situation should be based on detailed analysis of the current situation, i.e. the definition of target groups, the power of the local administration and the financial possibilities. This is especially true for food security policies in transformation countries, because of the completely different economic and social structure in comparison to the developing countries. The deterioration of the nutritional situation in Russia during the transformation process is a structural problem and mostly affects poor people in the cities, who lack sufficient purchasing power to buy enough food. In addition to income generation, food security policies in Russia should provide compensatory measures to support the process of rebuilding the social system in rural areas.