Food Security in 2025: Availability, Accessibility and Nutrition (2013)
Food security has been a high priority in the socio-economic policy of Uzbekistan since the early years of independence. As a result of policies pursued, Uzbekistan has managed to achieve (and maintain thereafter) grain independence,1 and increase its per capita production of meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables substantially enough to achieve self-sufficiency in basic foods. These accomplishments have been made possible mainly by institutional reforms, including the transformation of inefficient shirkats (agricultural cooperatives) into private farms, the development of private initiatives in food storage, processing and distribution, the establishment of the Arable Land Amelioration Fund to maintain and improve the quality of farmland, and so on. Beside of the measures aimed at expanding the output and providing the access to food, policies on improving the nutrition of the population were of utmost importance These policies are mainly aimed at preventing the micronutrient deficiency and consist of flour fortification, salt iodization programs and measures on supplementing the vegetable oil with vitamin A and retinol.
On the whole, Uzbekistan’s food policy proved its effectiveness and averted the threats to the nation’s food security. A number of key elements of Uzbekistan’s food security strategy, such as targeted support of young children and women at the time of pregnancy, distribution of assets to households, integration of food security programs with the national healthcare system are now considered as internationally accepted best practices.
Ensuring food security, therefore, will require more complex approaches, policies and tools. Therefore, in order to ensure the nation’s food security in the long term more complex and comprehensive approaches and policies need to be implemented. Food security should be considered as an integrated issue incorporating three key dimensions: 1) food availability; 2) access to food; and 3) balanced and highquality nutrition. The principal benchmarks of food policy should address these three key areas.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the working group and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Center for Economic Research.
