Scientific Journal of KubSAU

The article reviews food security issues of Russia under foreign sanctions and the state of food products production and consumption in the Russian Federation. Food security is considered as a major factor of political and socio-economic stability of any country, with Russia a no exception. However, it has become one of the largest net food importers, chiefly due to its agrarian sector weakness. The present paper discusses major challenges of the agricultural industry and necessary conditions for import substitution, gives a definition to food security and analyzes Russian food security in the terms of crisis. The authors assess prospects for import substitution by domestic goods, examine regional food production sectors and define food-sufficiency level of the Russian population. The article consequently infers that successful import substitution rather than a redistribution of significant import flows of agricultural products between exporting countries requires a relatively long period, which constitutes more than one or two years. It is revealed, that Russian domestic production level is insufficient for provisioning its population, which is the main cause of the country importing necessary amount of food from abroad. According to medical norms, in spite of the positive consumption dynamics of basic food products, the population does not receive a significant amount of animal protein, vegetables and fruit, and in a number of cases, the quality of food is extremely low. In the article production of basic food products, as well as average daily household food rations per capita in terms of their energy and protein value are subjected to analysis. Moreover, the article gives an estimate to the Russian food import rates. It studies the annual consumption of basic food products, the dynamics of household expenditures share on food and the number of Russian population whose incomes are below the subsistence minimum