ECONOMIC EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS OF «FOOD AFFORDABILITY» IN THE CONTEXT OF ENSURING COUNTRY'S FOOD SECURITY

Abstract

The article reflects the evolution of approaches to the concept of "food affordability", which was caused by changes in the population standard of living, limited amount of food of the necessary nutritional value, insufficient financial resources necessary for the purchase of food products. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the article reveals the key tasks aimed at increasing the food affordability for all sectors of society. Statistical analysis of food security in Ukraine and worldwide was carried out, the main destructive consequences that arose in the food sector of the Ukrainian economy and affected on its level recently were determined. Research shows that food security should be considered in three interrelated aspects: the physical availability of the staple food for the population, which means the sufficiency (in terms of human needs) of food products in physical volumes, that is, the uninterrupted delivery of food to places of consumption; the economic food affordability, which is characterized by the possibility of purchasing products by all socio-demographic groups only at the level of physiological nutritional norms, and from a social accessibility perspective, which is understood as access to food for all sectors of the population, regardless of social status, gender, age and location residence. Synthesis of scientific works by domestic scholars who are exploring the problems of food affordability made it possible to identify five key groups of factors, namely: the income level of the population, the level of prices for food, the level and structure of expenditures, the ratio of prices to incomes, the ratio of prices to costs, which have a significant effect on the economic food affordability for the population. The expediency of creating supplemental nutrition assistance mechanisms for vulnerable groups in society, which should provide them with free access to food products of appropriate quality and assortment, regardless of income level, is substantiated. Research has led to the conclusion that food assistance programs, which based on the ideology of social justice, are an integral part of the food security programs of the population in most developed countries.