Food insecurity: Magnitude and remedies

Abstract

Food insecurity is given an operational definition: the probability of foodgrain consumption in developing countries falling below a desired level due to a fixed upper limit on the food import bill they can afford and an unfavourable combination of poor harvests and world foodgrain prices. The author argues that food security should not be made contingent upon arrangements for worldwide foodgrain supply stabilization. Rather, it is suggested that food security could be attained through a food import bill insurance (FIBI) scheme. Alternatively, food security could be attained by a combination of a financial scheme and a grain buffer stock in or on behalf of the developing countries. The paper discusses the specific measures required to implement these proposals and shows that the resource capacity of the international community is sufficient to carry them out.