Academic literature on the topic 'Political economy of food'

AbstractAs part of the roundtable, “Ethics and the Future of the Global Food System,” this essay examines how the key decisions within the global system of food production are shaped by the organization of the global political economy. The understanding of the global political economy follows standard definitions that focus on the dominant market practices and the institutional structures within which those practices are embedded. I identify examples of market practices and institutional policies that structurally impair the ability of states to secure the human rights of their citizens, and explain specific issues of structural injustice raised by each example. The conclusion provides a survey of a range of alternative solutions for transforming the global political economy and creating the conditions for a more just and ecologically sustainable food system. Ultimately, our conception of human rights and the mechanisms for their protection and enforcement must change in order to address the scale and gravity of problems affecting the future of agriculture and our ability to feed the world.

The food security crisis which gripped the sub Sahara Africa after the drought in 1999/2000 threatened development initiatives in these countries. Zimbabwe&rsquo
s situation has since worsened and the country has failed to recuperate from the food problems, even after an improvement in the climatic conditions. International and local food aid activities then became a priority in the fight to sustain the right to food for the affected regions. It is argued in this research that if food aid is distributed on the basis of need it will enable the vulnerable populations recuperate form food insecurity problems. It is also postulated that if well implemented, food aid programmes are also able to play the dual role of averting starvation and leading to long term development. This thesis departs from the allegations of food aid politicisation in Zimbabwe.

Using the rational choice and neopatrimonial theories of individual behaviour, this research endeavored to ascertain whether political decisions influenced the government food aid distributions which were conducted through the Grain Marketing Board. In line with these theories, it is argued in this study that politicians behave in a manner that maximizes the fulfillment of their individual needs rather than the needs of the people who vote them in positions of power.

A qualitative approach was adopted in this study and data was gathered through household interviews in the Seke and Goromonzi districts of the Mashonaland East province in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with food aid experts from the governmental and non governmental organisations dealing with food security issues in Zimbabwe.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-318). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9948031.

In my dissertation, I study the spatio-temporal variegation and transnational circulation of vegetable commodities using the case of edamame beans (the largest frozen vegetable sector in Asia). My dissertation shows that food production and trade in East Asia have fundamentally changed over the past several decades. Rapid development has lifted the region out of subsistence and into middle-class and luxury consumption. As a result, East Asia is quickly becoming the center of the global food economy. The development of edamame industries is central to explaining the transformation of the agriculture and food industries across the region. I employ a mixed methods approach that includes participant-observation, semi-structured interviews with 40 edamame farmers and entrepreneurs, and GIS mapping, alongside Social Network Analysis (SNA). In my analysis, I coin the concept of “border assemblages,” arguing that edamame trade incorporates network and state-territorial characteristics. Building on this approach, my research bridges two social science sub-fields that scholars have often applied empirically but not theoretically: international politics and regional agrarian development. Three novel findings emerge from this research: First, my research adds to the literature on Asian colonialism by showing how the Japanese Empire and the post-World War Two (WWII) U.S. Cold War regime territorialized East Asia to develop a regulatory assemblage of regional agricultural production and trade. Second, after the 1980s, a new type of food regime emerged in East Asia following the introduction of new World Trade Organization food safety regulations that reterritorialized the food production networks in Asia. My research conceptualizes the emergence of the new food regimes in an East Asian context according to the political economy and ecology of edamame trade among Taiwan, Japan, and China. Third, another strand of my research contributes to the geopolitical understanding of the edamame trade with regard to food scares and contract farming. I extend the definition of contract farming to encompass international regulatory bodies and argue that trade agreements and international food laws, such as the Codex Alimentarius, have significantly shaped the agrarian landscape in Asia.
2021-01-11

The goal of this dissertation is to explore the effects of large agricultural investments on food systems change around Nanyuki, Kenya and in the Nacala corridor, Mozambique. Specifically, the effects of these investments on land, the food supply chains, food environments, and food consumption were studied. In Africa, food systems already change against a backdrop of global food system pressures, such as the inroads of supermarkets, and local drivers, such as demographic and economic changes. The large agricultural investments likely intersect with these changes, but if the investments amplify them, and to what degree, is less known. Methodologically, a postpositivist mixed-methods approach was used for an instrumental case study design with study areas in Kenya and Mozambique. Multiple data collection techniques were used, including (un)structured interviews and a household survey, and data were analysed through inductive thematic analysis and between-groups analysis. The results show myriad effects of the investments to food systems, including to land, self-production, agricultural engagement, food distribution and food environments. Overall, the investments linked with more modern food systems that were characterised by lower self-production and higher diet diversity. This change occurred through ‘hybrid modernity’ rather than linear modernity as certain traditional dynamics strengthen alongside modernisation processes. In the end, more inclusive food governance arrangements, such as food sovereignty, can counteract some of the adverse effects of large agricultural investments.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
Political Sciences
PhD
Unrestricted

The effect of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) on agri-food trade has drawn broad research interest and gained a substantial attention by scientific community as well as by policy makers. Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards among others represent a major challenge for trade policy and food safety. The identification and measurement of the economic implications of NTMs require the use of an adequate both methodological and empirical framework to derive sound estimates. By targeting economic sectors and issues not previously investigated, this Thesis contributes to previous literature on determining the factors that affect the implementation of SPS and their effects on trade flows. Four specific objectives have been pursued in four papers that constitute the main body of the present Thesis. The main purpose of the first paper is to investigate the scope of the reputation effect over time. To do so, we use The European Union (EU)'s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) data on sanitary and phytosanitary notifications from 1998 to 2013. Two count data models have been implemented to estimate the distribution of current notifications. In line with previous literature, our findings indicate that reputation does affect current EU notifications. Furthermore, we identify some relevant exporter countries for which reputation is long-lasting. The second paper aims at analyzing the behavior of the EU in controlling Aflatoxin (AF) contamination with respect to tree nuts and groundnuts for the period (1998-2015). To conduct this analysis, we have used a count data model, based on political economy considerations, past alerts and path dependence effects. Policy changes, including harmonization of AF standards and their further relaxing are estimated to have significant impact on the frequency of border controls. In the third paper, we seek to assess the influencing factors on food standard enforcement in the EU with a special attention to agri-food imports from Mediterranean countries. We explore if there is any special treatment toward Mediterranean countries in controlling agri-food imports, testing if past border notifications affect current decisions on the implementation of food standards by the EU. RASFF notifications data over the period 2000-2012, and count data models are used for this purpose. Our empirical results support the hypothesis that previous food notifications may slightly affect current notifications; nevertheless, this effect seems to be less relevant for products of interest for Mediterranean Partner Countries. Hence, we cannot identify a pro or anti Mediterranean bias in the way that food safety controls are implemented at the EU borders. The last paper focuses on the assessment of the competitiveness of the Tunisian agri-food sector before signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU. Specifically, competitive advantage measurement, based on the Tunisian National Institute of Statistics (INS) data over 2007-2012 period, has been used for this purpose. The analysis of the Tunisian agri-food sector reveals an important potential for exporting some agri-food staples. Recently, Tunisia is facing new challenges in exporting strategic products underlying the importance of adopting new business and marketing strategies or prospecting new markets. However, some agri-food subsectors, mainly animal products, milk and dairy products and cereals, remain unprepared to overcome the costs of the DCFTA due to their low competitiveness. Hence, Tunisian authorities could propose a progressive trade liberalization strategy with the EU.
El efecto de las medidas no arancelarias sobre el comercio agroalimentario ha generado un amplio interés en la investigación y ha recibido una atención considerable por parte de la comunidad científica y de los políticos de comercio. Las Medidas Sanitarias y Fitosanitarias (MSP), entre otras, representan un reto importante para la política comercial y la inocuidad de los alimentos. La identificación y medición de las implicaciones económicas de las MNT requieren el uso de un marco metodológico o empírico adecuado para derivar estimaciones sólidas. Al enfocarse en sectores económicos y temas no investigados previamente, esta tesis contribuye a la literatura previa sobre la determinación de los factores que afectan la implementación del MSP. La tesis estudia cuatro cuestiones principales que se reflejan en cuatro artículos científicos independientes, que constituyen el elemento central de la misma. El principal objetivo del primer artículo es el de investigar el efecto reputación a lo largo del tiempo. Para ello, utilizamos los datos RASFF para el periodo 1998-2013. Se han implementado dos modelos de datos de recuento para estimar la distribución de las notificaciones actuales. De acuerdo con la literatura anterior, nuestras conclusiones indican que la reputación afecta a las notificaciones actuales de la UE. Además, identificamos algunos países exportadores relevantes cuya reputación es duradera. El segundo artículo analiza el comportamiento de la UE en el control de la contaminación por Aflatoxina (AF) con respecto a los frutos secos entre el periodo 1998 y 2015. Para llevar a cabo este análisis, hemos utilizado un modelo de datos de recuento, basado en consideraciones de economía política, alertas pasadas y efectos de dependencia de trayectoria. Se estima que los cambios en las políticas, incluida la armonización de las normas AF y su posterior relajación, tienen un impacto significativo en la frecuencia de los controles en las fronteras. En el tercer artículo, tratamos de evaluar los factores que influyen en la aplicación de normas alimentarias en la UE prestando especial atención a las importaciones agroalimentarias procedentes de países mediterráneos. Así, estudiamos si hay algún tratamiento especial hacia los países mediterráneos en el control de las importaciones agroalimentarias, contrastando si las notificaciones pasadas afectan las decisiones actuales sobre la aplicación de las normas alimentarias por parte de la UE. Los datos de las notificaciones RASFF durante el período 2000-2012 y los modelos de datos de recuento se utilizan para este fin. Nuestros resultados empíricos apoyan la hipótesis de que las notificaciones anteriores pueden afectar ligeramente a las notificaciones actuales. Sin embargo, este efecto parece ser menos relevante para los productos procedentes de los países mediterráneos. Por lo tanto, no podemos identificar un comportamiento pro o anti mediterráneo en la forma en que se implementan controles de seguridad alimentaria en las fronteras de la UE.El último documento se centra en la evaluación de la competitividad del sector agroalimentario tunecino antes de firmar el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio Profundo y Amplio con la UE. Concretamente, se han utilizado indicadores de las ventajas competitivas, basándose en los datos del INS para el período 2007-2012. El análisis del sector agroalimentario tunecino revela un importante potencial de exportación de algunos productos básicos agroalimentarios. Recientemente, Túnez se enfrenta a nuevos retos en la exportación de productos estratégicos subrayando la importancia de adoptar nuevas estrategias comerciales y de comercialización o prospección de nuevos mercados. Sin embargo, algunos subsectores agroalimentarios, principalmente productos de origen animal, leche y productos lácteos y cereales, siguen sin estar preparados para soportar los costos del acuerdo de libre comercio profundo y completo debido
L'efecte de les mesures no aranzelàries (MNT) sobre el comerç agroalimentari ha generat un ampli interés en la investigació i ha rebut una atenció considerable per part de la comunitat científica i dels polítics de comerç. Les Mesures Sanitàries i Fitosanitàries (MSP) , entre altres, representen un repte important per a la política comercial i la innocuïtat dels aliments. La identificació i mesurament de les implicacions econòmiques de les MNT requerixen l'ús d'un marc metodològic o empíric adequat per a derivar estimacions sòlides. A l'enfocar-se en sectors econòmics i temes no investigats prèviament, esta tesi contribuïx a la literatura prèvia sobre la determinació dels factors que afecten la implementació del MSF. La tesi estudia quatre qüestions principals que es reflectixen en quatre articles científics independents, que constituïxen l'element central de la mateixa. El principal objectiu del primer article és el d'investigar l'efecte reputació al llarg del temps. Per a això, utilitzem les dades RASFF per al període 1998-2013. S'han implementat dos models de dades de recompte per a estimar la distribució de les notificacions actuals. D'acord amb la literatura anterior, les nostres conclusions indiquen que la reputació afecta les notificacions actuals de la UE. A més, identifiquem alguns països exportadors rellevants la reputació de les quals és duradora. El segon article analitza el comportament de la UE en el control de la contaminació per Aflatoxina (AF) respecte a les fruites seques entre el període 1998 i 2015. Per a dur a terme esta anàlisi, hem utilitzat un model de dades de recompte, basat en consideracions d'economia política, alertes passades i efectes de dependència de trajectòria. S'estima que els canvis en les polítiques, inclosa l'harmonització de les normes AF i la seua posterior relaxació, tenen un impacte significatiu en la freqüència dels controls en les fronteres. En el tercer article, tractem d'avaluar els factors que influïxen en l'aplicació de normes alimentàries en la UE, prestant especial atenció a les importacions agroalimentàries procedents de països mediterranis. Així, estudiem si hi ha algun tractament especial cap als països mediterranis en el control de les importacions agroalimentàries, contrastant si les notificacions passades afecten les decisions actuals sobre l'aplicació de les normes alimentàries per part de la UE. Les dades de les notificacions RASFF durant el període 2000-2012 i els models de dades de recompte s'utilitzen per a este fi. Els nostres resultats empírics recolzen la hipòtesi que les notificacions anteriors poden afectar lleugerament les notificacions actuals. No obstant això, este efecte pareix menys rellevant per als productes procedents dels països mediterranis. Per tant, no podem identificar un comportament pro o anti mediterrani en la forma en què s'implementen controls de seguretat alimentària en les fronteres de la UE. L'últim document se centra en l'avaluació de la competitivitat del sector agroalimentari tunisenc abans de firmar l'Acord de Lliure Comerç Profund i Ampli amb la UE. Concretament, s'ha utilitzat indicadors dels avantatges competitius, basant-se en les dades de l'INS per al període 2007-2012. L'anàlisi del sector agroalimentari tunisenc revela un important potencial d'exportació d'alguns productes bàsics agroalimentaris. Recentment, Tunis s'enfronta a nous reptes en l'exportació de productes estratègics subratllant la importància d'adoptar noves estratègies comercials i de comercialització o prospecció de nous mercats. No obstant això, alguns subsectors agroalimentaris, principalment productes d'origen animal, llet i productes lactis i cereals, seguixen sense estar preparats per a suportar els costos de l'ALCD a causa de la seua baixa competitivitat. Per tant, les autoritats tunisenques podrien proposar una estratègia progres
Taghouti, I. (2017). A political economy approach to measuring EU food standard enforcement and their implications on agri-food trade [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/89095
TESIS

The principal analytical objective of this dissertation is the assessment of changes in the political economy of food production during the transition from socialism to capitalism in Russia and China. The dissertation is equally interested in the consequences of this transition for human welfare resulting from changes in the availability of food. As a conditio sine qua non for human survival, food serves as an objective yardstick for human welfare. By studying changes in the political economy of food production it is therefore possible to draw general inferences regarding the welfare implications of the transition to capitalism in Russia and China. This dissertation uses a combination of classical political economy and comparative institutional analysis: The three empirical chapters show how changes in state objectives result in the formulation of economic policies that in turn shape the organization of food production - with momentous consequences for the Russian and Chinese people. Both countries achieved a significant increase in the output and variety of food, yet new problems concerning the availability, quality, and safety of food products have resulted from the introduction of markets. These problems are not externalities, but rather constitute a necessary consequence of the establishment of a market economy in which profit-oriented actors engage in competitive exchange without regard for human welfare. As a result, both countries are compelled to balance their desire for economic growth with the provision of sufficient and adequate food to their populations. An in-depth comparison of the development trajectories of two agro-industrial sectors (wheat and pig production) moreover reveals a convergence in government policy and economic institutions, indicating that Russia and China no longer represent alternative transition models. Following the reassertion of state authority during the first Putin presidency, the Russian government adopted an extensive agricultural modernization program, which strongly resembled China's existing state-guided reform strategy. Recently, both governments have taken active steps towards increasing the global competitiveness of their food economies, while intervening in markets as needed to ensure domestic food security. This demonstrates the centrality of the state in establishing and administering a capitalist economy.
Sociology

The quintessential image of a farmer in a field summons to mind an industry at the heart of debates over land, environment, and food. A picture of an oil rig, silhouetted against the sky, conjures its own questions of progress, growth, and power. As agricultural products modified into energy commodities, biofuels—liquid fuels derived from plants—are located at the intersection of these industrial complexes, and, consequently, at the crux of these concerns. Over the course of a decade, starting in the early 2000s, public discourse over biofuels has spanned early optimism to uproar over food security to outcry over land appropriation. This project investigates why both the rules governing and the actual implementation of biofuels investments underwent such rapid and continuous revision. What, it asks, explains these seemingly-stochastic shifts? Why do state, society, and corporate actors not align into and remain part of more coherent pro- and anti-biofuels camps? And why, in spite of media reports of protests, campaigns, and lawsuits against biofuels projects, can we not identify consistent movements and counter-movements? Drawing on original fieldwork in coastal Kenya and Tanzania from 2010-2011, and triangulating field-based interview and observational findings with media reports, policy documents, and secondary literature, this dissertation argues that biofuels are challenging objects of contention for claim-makers and power-holders alike, for two reasons. First, their position at the junction of commercialized energy and agriculture implicates them in difficult-to-track, globalizing, and distant political economy relationships. Second, at the production level, biofuels are a diverse set of crops that affect local ecologies and livelihoods in geographically-specific ways, while in energy markets, they are a largely-unified fuel alternative. These differences across sectors make them difficult to promote, regulate, and resist. This dissertation proposes a framework of contentious political economy to analyze these complex claims and responses. The project brings together a dynamic, cyclical understanding of the capture and appropriation of identities, interests, and historical grievances with a political economy perspective on new market forces and commodities. Beyond biofuels, the project considers the social and environmental repercussions of the intersection of new resource economies with long-standing grievances.

Alternative agriculture and counter-cuisine movements have grown to a strong cultural current in Western European and North American societies. In recent years,these movements have begun to converge and coalesce around the concept of localizing agri-food relations and commodity chains as a way of redressing the deleterious environmental, social, and economic consequences of what are seen as dominant globalized food relations. This dissertation reports on a regional study in Eastern Kansas of the political economy of local food relations that has arisen through this producer and consumer response. It is an effort to recognize the regional interplay of disparate forces in constructing local food systems in the interest of framing more contextualized and nuanced questions about the environmental, social, and economic outcomes of alternative agri-food development. Network, conventions, and spatial analysis theories and methods were customized and put into practice in the service of these aims, using triangulation among them to mitigate each of their individual weaknesses in representing the variable embeddedness, politics, and spaces of local food in Eastern Kansas. It was found that local food generally represents a marketing niche in urban consumerism that is served primarily by regional rural producers. The distances, agricultural and food ecologies, forms of organization, and values underpinning local food linkages were all found to vary quite considerably throughout the region, creating a diverse combination of development agendas and impacts from local food networks and making food localization a highly contested concept. Local food development in its current form is thus highly dependent on urban/rural dialectics and projects of urbanization that lack open, transparent, and reflexive governance. Critical acknowledgement of these development interdependencies is important as a step toward encouraging social, economic, and environmental justice through local food development.

The aim of this paper is to document the interest in the research area regarding renewable energy sources, as a sustainable way of adapting to climate change. The study seeks to present a comparison between the alternative energy and the conventional energy and the impact on the mitigation of climate change. Moreover, by analyzing the key factors that characterize the energy sector from Romania and the European Union, the current situation is highlighted and the study could contribute to knowledge development or solving practical issues. Taking into consideration the interdependence between economic growth and energy consumption, stable access to electricity is of political, technical and monetary interest to both developed and developing countries. In this context, green energy sources can contribute, along with other means, to achieving a greener and more environmentally friendly society. For the literature review it was used the VOSViewer software that analyzes the bibliometric links between countries and authors. It can be stated that the highest production from green sources in Romania is obtained with the help of hydropower plants. However, wind and solar energy play an important role in the national energy structure.

This study investigates the evolution of an admiring food processing plant. Agriculture is once the foundation of Taiwan. Agriculture has a great influence on the food processing industry as well. As a result, as agriculture grows, the food processing industry also develops rapidly. Later on, processed food export becomes important to Taiwan’s economy. Meanwhile, the food processing industry is also influenced by the political and economic environment profoundly. Woo Sun Food Factory Company (Woo Sun) is one of the greatest food processing company in Taiwan. Through the four transformations, Woo Sun upgrades technologies and lowers production costs together with the sales cost. Through studying the case study of Woo Sun, a representative food processing company in the Taiwan food industry, we know that management, developing strategies, and manufacturing technology upgrade are extremely important.

Although consensus has not been reached regarding the most efficient mechanism to curb anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, rising concern over the consequences of global climate change and consequent shifts in public and political sentiment suggest that carbon legislation will be instituted in the US in the near future. The recent climate change bill passed in the House of Representatives titled The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454) includes provisions for a cap-and-trade system intended to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions 83% by 2050. Consequently, it is likely that some means of carbon pricing will take effect that will make it more expensive to emit greenhouse gases. In a carbon constrained economy, it will become increasingly important to consider every stage of food production and consumption in order to evaluate the potential opportunities for emission reductions. This analysis uses Life-Cycle Assessment to estimate the social cost of food production by quantifying the associated negative externalities under a range of potential carbon prices, using meat and grain as examples. It concludes that 0.42 and 16.0 kg of lifecycle CO2e are embedded in 1 kg of grain and beef production, respectively. Consequently, the marginal cost associated with the emissions caused by grain production under a carbon price range of $10 and $85 per t CO2e is estimated to be between $.004 and $0.036 per kg of grain. By comparison, the estimated marginal cost associated with beef production over the same range of carbon pricing is $0.16 and $1.36 per kg of beef. Considering that the US produces 12 billion kg of beef per year, this range indicates that the carbon cost of beef production alone might fall anywhere between $1.9 and $16.3 billion per year, depending on whether and how a carbon price is applied. This uncertainty and potential carbon price could significantly impact the cost of carbon-intensive foods.

Food security is one of the most important aspects of socio-economic development in Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, studies done in this field of research are of significant theoretical and practical interest. Resolutions of food security issues are one of the conditions for the preservation of state sovereignty, economic security and social stability in society, ultimately, national security. Food safety is important, in terms of strategic interests of the country, and its solution requires: to satisfy public demand for food products; providing industry with raw materials of local manufacture; preservation of social, political and social stability in society; to prevent dependency of the national economy on changes; conditions related to the world markets, the development of internal agricultural production, food and processing industry; neutralization of some import to ensure stable employment and income in rural areas; preservation of ethnic - national characteristics of the local population by creating opportunities for 'survival' of the village: prevention of major foreign exchange expenditure on food imports: the neutralization of the negative impact on the local food market crises in foreign countries - exporters and importers of food products.

The level of the command economy is primarily determined by how it is adapted to the environment and then using only spectacular food-producing economy to nasushnoy needs of the population. The close relationship between the natural and geographical conditions and economic activities shows the ethno-political determenirovannost nomadic society. Despite the huge reservoir of the study and the availability of general works on the history of the Kyrgyz period under consideration, remain controversial questions of economic structure, species composition of herds, the existence of ancillary hozyayaystva, the value and location of the household and the level of development of commodity-money relations. The use of empirical research base and the historical and cultural interpretation of material evidence allow rekonstruktrirovat structure of the economy and the Kyrgyz life.

Climate change has emerged as the most important problem of this century for the world. We can speak of many social, political and economic multi-dimensional impacts of the climate change on humankind. On the one hand, the cities are suffering due to unusual environmental activities, on the other hand the migration due to the degraded environment affect the regional economies. At the same time, climate change is triggering the health problems of the humankind along with the disappearance of many animal species. Similar to these there are many different issues and problems of the climate change. But one problem is differing from the others and this problem is the worst one that humankind ever met: the food problem. Throughout the ages the food problem turned into an economic problem because agriculture becomes an economic sector that produces food. The effects of climate change on agricultural sector have strong influence on world economy. The supply of food decreases with the more frequent extreme weather events. A lot of people have difficulties in getting food and income of the agricultural sector declines. The purpose of the study is to draw attention to this problem. Therefore, the relationship between food prices and CO2 emission was tested by using panel cointegration techniques. Analyze was done by using the annual CPI-food and CO2 emission data of selected 26 OECD countries. The empirical results indicated the effect of the climate change on food prices. In consequence of this effect the policymakers must set more efficient policies.

Under COVID-19, the world is facing unclear circumstances as a result of the global political, economic, social and financial recession caused by the pandemic. The overpopulation of certain regions as a result of globalization leads to problems related to the nutrition of the population and food security. The Black Sea region, with its strategic location, is an essential market both for the production and for the supply of raw materials to the regions affected by poverty and also for the international grain trade and in particular for the wheat. The report presents the main trends in the wheat market within the Black Sea region and argues the problems and challenges, which the grain trade is facing after the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Продовольственная безопасность - категория, вызывающая устойчивый интерес со стороны научного сообщества и политического истеблишмента. Это понятие является предметом периодических дискуссий, затрагивающих ключевые проблемы социально-экономического развития страны. В статье предпринята попытка структуризации понятия сообразно целям стратегического управления. Food security is a category that generates sustained interest from the scientific community and the political establishment. This concept is the subject of periodic discussions touching upon the key problems of the country's socio-economic development. The article attempts to structure the concept in accordance with the goals of strategic management.

This report reviews the literature on links between international food prices and political instability (including protests, riots and social unrest). The literature on food prices and protests, riots, unrest, or violent incidents consists mainly of peer-reviewed scholarly articles that utilise econometric modeling. Some early studies examined the links between international food prices and political instability and found conflicting results. Some assessments concluded that there were links between international food prices or food insecurity and the number of violent incidents, while others found that such a link was tenuous. This literature review covers some of the main arguments and findings in the recent literature on food prices and political instability or conflict. The majority of the econometric studies in this review find that there is a link between food price increases and a greater probability of protests, riots or social unrest. However, there are still a few studies that have contradictory results. So, the debate on the effect of food prices on political stability continues. Food subsidies, cash transfers, price controls, and the elimination of trade barriers are some of the policy interventions that may address rising food prices and mitigate the rise of violent collective action. However, the literature questions the effectiveness of such policies in cases where violence or protest action stems from deeper, underlying economic or political grievances.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is of strategic importance to the Ghanaian economy. It is the second most important industrial crop after cocoa and is used widely in local food preparation as well as in industrial processing. In spite of its importance, however, oil palm has consistently underperformed since the early twentieth century. This paper conducts a value chain analysis of the crop, foregrounding the political economy factors that shape the performance of the sector. It draws on a combination of in-depth interviews conducted in March 2020 with a variety of value chain actors and a review of the secondary literature. Additionally, between late May and early June 2020, twelve further interviews were conducted as part of a rapid market survey to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the value chain.

This paper analyses the global commodity circuits – value chains – for maize and tobacco in Zimbabwe, in the context of a reconfigured agrarian economy and COVID-19 induced shocks. The study focuses on the political economy dynamics of agricultural commodity circuits to reveal how they can contribute to understanding the drivers and constraints of agricultural commercialisation in Zimbabwe. This paper traces the circuits of maize and tobacco, the two major crops for food security and foreign currency earnings in Zimbabwe.

This rapid review synthesises the literature from academic, policy, and knowledge institution sources on the drivers of acute food insecurity and famines with a focus on key FCDO-partner countries. This review builds further on evidence already collected in other K4D helpdesk reports. The main conclusion of this rapid review is that the drivers of acute food insecurity are complex, often involving multiple and interrelated factors. The drivers for chronical food insecurity and acute food insecurity cannot be separated entirely from each other, as the evidence shows that slow-onset determinants of food insecurity could play a critical role during an event (or multiple events) that could trigger a food emergency. The literature shows that the political economy (e.g. food system governance or preparedness of institutions to disasters) and socioeconomic dynamics (e.g. shaping demand and supply of food) have become more relevant factors in any analysis on the drivers of acute food insecurity, acute malnutrition, and famine. This coincides with a shift in the literature away from global drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition toward localised dynamics on the national and sub-national level. The analytical framework of Howe (2018) that captures this complexity distinguishes pressure, hold, and self-reinforcing dynamics as key dimensions that explain potential pathways for famine. These could be political-induced, natural-induced, economical-induced, or socially induced, but most often a combination. Based on this framework and supported by the evidence from the literature, this rapid review assesses conflicts and protracted crises; climate change and pressure on natural resources; social inequalities; and economic shocks and food prices, as the key drivers of acute food insecurity and famine. Importantly, from the literature it seems clear that acute food insecurity is the result of changing vulnerabilities that link with different coping mechanisms of households and communities.