Food self-sufficiency: Making sense of it, and when it makes sense
By J. Clapp. 2017
438 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Food self-sufficiency gained increased attention in a number of countries in the wake of the 2007–08 international food crisis, as countries sought to buffer themselves from volatility on world food markets. Food self-sufficiency is often presented in policy circles as the direct opposite of international trade in food, and is widely critiqued by economists as a misguided approach to food security that places political priorities ahead of economic efficiency. This paper takes a closer look at the concept of food self-sufficiency and makes the case that policy choice on this issue is far from a straightforward binary choice between the extremes of relying solely on homegrown food and a fully open trade policy for foodstuffs. It shows that in practice, food self-sufficiency is defined and measured in a number of different ways, and argues that a broader understanding of the concept opens up space for considering food self-sufficiency policy in relative terms, rather than as an either/or policy choice. Conceptualizing food self-sufficiency along a continuum may help to move the debate in a more productive direction, allowing for greater consideration of instances when the pursuit of policies to increase domestic food production may make sense both politically and economically.
Subfields: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Water Science and Technology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bb01c2e358ae05e6e20ab356a482c378085471e3
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In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- E. Schimmenti
- V. Borsellino
- K. Descheemaeker
- K. Giller
- Zvi Hochman
- V. Erokhin
- Tianming Gao
- H. El Bilali
In Nutrition and Dietetics
In Water Science and Technology
Citations in the corpus
- The future of farming: Who will produce our food? (2021, background): “Clearly, some geographies are far more suitable than others for the production of specific commodities and selfsufficiency for all regions is neither feasible nor efficient (Clapp, 2017).”
- Impacts of COVID-19 on Trade and Economic Aspects of Food Security: Evidence from 45 Developing Countries (2020, background): “While Wegren and Elvestad [34], Meskhia [35], Clapp [36], and Saidi and Diouri [37], among others, argue that food security is about establishing a balance between domestic production and imports, many studies categorize food security as agricultural [38,39], economic [40,41], or health [42–44] issu”
- Agri-Food Markets towards Sustainable Patterns (2020, background): “Clapp [126] “takes a closer look at the concept of food self-sufficiency a d makes the case that policy choice on this issue is far from a straightforward binary choice between the extremes of relying solely on home-grown food and a fully open trade policy for foodstuffs” (p.”