The Study Of Food Security In Developing Countries

Food security is a global problem. It is an especially prominent problem in developing countries. According to FAO's recent estimation, there are more than one billion hungry people in the word in 2009. And the developing countries account for 98.5%. This paper makes a comprehensive and systematic analysis on the food security in developing countries from the both aspects of the ability of food supply and food access.Firstly, this paper reviews related research on food security, and with the combination of the characteristics of the developing countries, it explores the theory of food security in developing countries, in order to pave the way for empirical analysis below. It mainly discusses the concept, measurement and impact factors of food security; the interrelationship of food security and poverty, institutional changes, technological advances in agriculture; and the general framework of mathematical models of food security.Secondly, this paper analyzes the status of food security in developing countries by the indicators of the proportion of the population that is undernourished, global hunger index, dietary energy supply and so on. It concludes that the food security situation in developing countries is still serious; the situation in the different regions differ greatly; especially in Sub-Saharan Africa the situation is most severe; and because of the low levels of productivity and per capita income, the situation of food security in developing countries is shows a greater vulnerability and long-term character.Thirdly, this paper analyzes the determinants of food security in developing countries through the econometric models based on panel data. It concludes that food supply and food access are the two determinants that decide the food security in developing countries; food supply is a necessary condition for food security, and food access is a sufficient condition for food security in the case of adequate food supply; food access is becoming more important than food supply in the determinants of food security; and the importance of research on a wider range of food security is also becoming increasingly apparent.Fourthly, this paper analyzes the ability of food supply and food access in developing countries by Hodrick-Prescott Filter; discusses the influencing factors of food supply by the econometric model based on panel data; and makes an assessment of the measures taked to enhance the ability of food supply and food access. It concludes that the food supply situation in developing countries is disadvantage in the world, and the micro-level access ability to food is still weak; food production is still the most important source of food supply in developing countries, but its proportion is declining, and the proportion of net import of food is rising, indicating that food self-sufficiency in developing countries is gradually weakened; people's income level and food prices are important factors that affect the ability to access food.Finally, this paper analyzes the situation of food supply and food access, and their influencing factors ? in China, and then the policy recommendations are made to enhance the ability of China's food supply and food access. It concludes that although China's food security has made great achievement, the population in food insecurity remains huge; the main factors that affect China's food production are resource inputs such as arable land and irrigation water; China's food-insecure population lives mainly in rural areas; the ability of the poor people living in rural areas to access food is lower. To truly realize food security of China's poor people in rural areas, it is necessary to increase their income to improve their own ability to produce and buy food.