Developing analytical tools for managing public policy on food security

The study aims to design analytical tools for performing an integrated assessment of Russia’s food security in order to optimize public policy and the decision-making process in this sphere. The development and introduction of the integrated indicator, which characterizes production and consumption of food, will allow monitoring and identifying whether food stocks available in the Russian regions are adequate. The methodological basis of the research includes the principles of neoclassical economic theory reflecting the behavior of economic agents in conditions of limited resources. The authors consider the existing approaches to building the systems of food consumption indicators specified by FAO and the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation. The study is premised on the main theories about a primary direction for the development of public policy on food security, the formation of a system of its indicators, as well as the creation of an integrated food security index. The research methods adopted in the paper are analysis and synthesis, expert evaluation, the index method, statistical methods, rating evaluations and data standardization.The authors conclude that for managing public policy it is necessary to apply a tool, which allows characterizing the situation with food security in the Russian regions and a particular region using the empirical database available. The research devises a method for forming an integrated index of food security in the regions (country) and establishes a system of food production and consumption indicators taking into account FAO and the Doctrine. The authors perform the testing of the proposed integrated index of the Russian regions’ food security. The study indicates that there were significant structural and dynamic changes in food production in Russia (from 1990 to 2016) against the background of a decreasing quality of products consumed by the country’s population, as well as a notable differentiation of the RF subjects in the overall ranking. The results show that the regions having local food production with insignificant processing are ranked higher. The index can be used by public authorities to monitor food security in the Russian regions and formulate a strategy for reducing regional dependence on external food supplies.