Integrated Assessment of Food Security in Rural Areas of the Russian Federation

Abstract

This article presents the results of a regional assessment of food security in rural areas based on the proposed indicator system. The author identifies the following components of food security in rural areas: economic accessibility of food for socially vulnerable groups, spatial and infrastructural accessibility of food, rural self-sufficiency in agricultural products, and the quality of rural nutrition. By aggregating these indicators, an integrated index was obtained, as well as specific indices of food security in rural areas. The analysis of the integrated assessment framework revealed that current statistical monitoring is insufficient to assess the quality of the population's nutrition. There is a need for methodologically sound monitoring, taking into account the urbanrural divide. The cartogram-based assessment enables to draw conclusions about the spatial determinacy of food security inequality in rural areas. The integrated assessment methodology can be applied to spatially dynamic monitoring of food security in rural areas in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as to analyze spatial inequality in food security.