FOOD SECURITY AS THE BASIS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

One of the central problems of an independent state is the provision of its food security, that is, its ability to provide citizens with basic food products, through proper production practices and import operations. It may safely be said that for every country, more so in the relatively newly independent States, it is an even existential challenge. Despite a full understanding of the problem, its definitive and comprehensive solution is complicated by a trivial problem - limited resources, which is why the extent to which subsidy is provided by the developed countries (per unit of output, per employee or agricultural land), is far beyond the capacity of the developing countries and countries with economies in transition (that would also include Georgia). In such countries, a stereotype picture emerges: food demand remains inelastic, but low purchasing power among a large segment of the population, the weak economy and the limited capacities of providing subsidies artificially lower demand for food. In post-socialist countries with the economies in transition the situation is aggravated by the violation of the social (in fact, political) subsidy system, which has substantially changed the proportions between the volumes of consumed food products. In Georgia, almost 2/3 of the total calories consumed by the population come from food products of plant origin, which is 1.5 times higher than the recommended proportions. The main reason is that the cost of every 1000 kcal from products of plant origin consumed by the population is about 3-4 times cheaper than the cost of the same number of calories from products of animal origin. As a result, the cost of the food basket is formally reduced, a formal basis is created for reducing the subsistence minimum, but at the same time, the proportions are broken between the volumes of the consumption of proteins, fats, carbohydrates by members of society. Food security is a State priority. The only entity that can solve this problem is the State itself. Achieving success on this issue in many ways depends on the effectiveness of public administration of the State as an economic entity, that is integrated with the improvement of agricultural production, its transformation into a high-tech sector and large-scale socio-economic, cultural and technical development of the rural population. We still import more than 70% of the food we need. If we want to improve the trade balance by 2027, we must significantly increase agricultural production in order to reduce foreign exchange spent on food imports.