IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v51y2020i4p567-575.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does a better diet reduce dependence on imports? The case of Tunisia

Author

Listed:
  • Sophie Drogue
  • Marlène Perignon
  • Nicole Darmon
  • Marie Josèphe Amiot

Abstract

In the last 40 years, Tunisia has experienced—as many other developing and emerging countries—a dietary transition, which led to an increase in the consumption of sugar, fats, and animal products. This transition was accompanied by an increase in noncommunicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. Using mathematical programming, we optimized the Tunisian diet using the French dietary recommendations as constraints. Then, we used the Global Trade Analysis Project's constant elasticities of substitution in order to simulate the impact of fulfilling the nutrient recommendations on international trade and domestic supply. Using this approach, we showed that the Tunisian diet is rich in carbohydrates and sugar but lacks fibers, some minerals, and vitamins. The adherence to all recommendations would induce an imperative shift to less sugar and cereal‐based products by reducing the import dependence on these products, but would result a dramatic increase in the domestic supply of products from animal origin, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Drogue & Marlène Perignon & Nicole Darmon & Marie Josèphe Amiot, 2020. "Does a better diet reduce dependence on imports? The case of Tunisia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(4), pages 567-575, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:51:y:2020:i:4:p:567-575
    DOI: 10.1111/agec.12572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12572
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/agec.12572?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irz, Xavier & Leroy, Pascal & Réquillart, Vincent & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2015. "Economic assessment of nutritional recommendations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 188-210.
    2. Bhavani Shankar & C. S. Srinivasan & Xavier Irz, 2008. "World Health Organization Dietary Norms: A Quantitative Evaluation of Potential Consumption Impacts in the United States, United Kingdom, and France," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 151-175.
    3. Srinivasan, C.S. & Irz, Xavier & Shankar, Bhavani, 2006. "An assessment of the potential consumption impacts of WHO dietary norms in OECD countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 53-77, February.
    4. Dhehibi, B. & Gil, J. M., 2003. "Forecasting food demand in Tunisia under alternative pricing policies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 167-186, April.
    5. Nabil Annabi & John Cockburn & Bernard Decaluwé, 2006. "Functional Forms and Parametrization of CGE Models," Working Papers MPIA 2006-04, PEP-MPIA.
    6. S. Henson, 1991. "Linear Programming Analysis Of Constraints Upon Human Diets," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 380-393, September.
    7. Victor E. Smith, 1959. "Linear Programming Models for the Determination of Palatable Human Diets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 272-283.
    8. George J. Stigler, 1945. "The Cost of Subsistence," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 303-314.
    9. Anania, Giovanni & Pupo D'Andrea, Maria Rosaria, 2007. "The Global Market for Olive Oil: Actors, Trends, Prospects and Research Needs," 103rd Seminar, April 23-25, 2007, Barcelona, Spain 9446, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. C. S. Srinivasan, 2007. "Food consumption impacts of adherence to dietary norms in the United States: a quantitative assessment," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(2‐3), pages 249-256, September.
    11. Chantal Le Mouël & Bertrand Schmitt, 2018. "Food Dependency in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Retrospective Analysis and Projections to 2050," Post-Print hal-01894846, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Irz, Xavier & Leroy, Pascal & Réquillart, Vincent & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2015. "Economic assessment of nutritional recommendations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 188-210.
    2. Irz, Xavier & Leroy, Pascal & Réquillart, Vincent & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2016. "Welfare and sustainability effects of dietary recommendations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 139-155.
    3. Mónica Hernández & Trinidad Gómez & Laura Delgado-Antequera & Rafael Caballero, 2021. "Using multiobjective optimization models to establish healthy diets in Spain following Mediterranean standards," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1927-1961, September.
    4. C. S. Srinivasan, 2007. "Food consumption impacts of adherence to dietary norms in the United States: a quantitative assessment," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(2‐3), pages 249-256, September.
    5. Xavier Irz & Pascal Leroy & Vincent V. Requillart & Louis Georges Soler & Olivier Allais, 2013. "Identifying sustainable diets compatible with consumer preferences [Identification de régimes alimentaires durables compatibles avec les préférences des consommateurs]," Post-Print hal-02804826, HAL.
    6. Sophie S. Drogue & Romain Vignes & Marie Josèphe Amiot, 2015. "The impact of optimized diet patterns at a macro-level: the case of Tunisia," Post-Print hal-02796604, HAL.
    7. Srinivasan, C.S. & Irz, Xavier & Shankar, Bhavani, 2006. "An assessment of the potential consumption impacts of WHO dietary norms in OECD countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 53-77, February.
    8. Requillart, V. & Irz, X. & Jensen, J. & Leroy, P. & Soler, L.-G., 2018. "Promoting Climate-Friendly Diets: What Should We Tell Consumers in Demark, Finland and France?," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277057, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Martin Ravallion, 2020. "On Measuring Global Poverty," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 167-188, August.
    10. S. Henson, 1991. "Linear Programming Analysis Of Constraints Upon Human Diets," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 380-393, September.
    11. Linda Cobiac & Xavier Irz & Pascal Leroy & Vincent Requillart & Peter Scarborough & Louis Georges Soler, 2019. "Accounting for consumers’ preferences in the analysis of dietary recommendations," Post-Print hal-02244975, HAL.
    12. Wilson, Robert R., 1969. "The Theory of Consumer Behavior: Production and the Allocation of Time," File Manuscripts, United States National Marine Fisheries Service, Economic Research Division, number 233601, January.
    13. F. Martos-Barrachina & L. Delgado-Antequera & M. Hernández & R. Caballero, 2022. "An extensive search algorithm to find feasible healthy menus for humans," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 5231-5267, November.
    14. Srinivasan, Chittur S., 2006. "WHO Dietary Norms: A Quantitative Evaluation of Potential Consumption Impacts in the United States," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25292, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Young, Jeffrey S., 2021. "Measuring palatability as a linear combination of nutrient levels in food items," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    16. Uche Ozughalu, 2016. "Relationship Between Household Food Poverty and Vulnerability to Food Poverty: Evidence from Nigeria," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 567-587, January.
    17. Wisdom Dogbe & Cesar Revoredo-Giha, 2021. "Nutritional and Environmental Assessment of Increasing the Content of Fruit and Vegetables in the UK Diet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.
    18. Martine Rutten & Andrzej Tabeau & Frans Godeschalk, 2013. "A new methodology for incorporating nutrition indicators in economy-wide scenario analyses," FOODSECURE Technical papers 1, LEI Wageningen UR.
    19. Omiat, George & Shively, Gerald, 2016. "Charting the cost of nutritionally-adequate diets in Uganda, 2000-2011," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246378, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    20. Bai, Yan & Costlow, Leah & Ebel, Alissa & Laves, Sarah & Ueda, Yurika & Volin, Natalie & Zamek, Maya & Herforth, Anna & Masters, William A., 2021. "Review: Retail consumer price data reveal gaps and opportunities to monitor food systems for nutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:51:y:2020:i:4:p:567-575. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.