Impact of Trade Openness on Food Security: Evidence from Panel Data for Central Asian Countries

Abstract

The problem of food insecurity has become increasingly critical across the world since 2015, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of people around the world and has historically been a challenge confined primarily to developing countries, to which the countries of Central Asia, as typical transition countries, cannot be immune either. Under this context, many countries including Central Asian countries have recognized the importance of trade openness to ensure adequate levels of food security and are increasingly reliant on international trade for food security. Using the 2001–2018 panel data of Central Asian countries, based on food security’s four pillars (including availability, access, stability, and utilization), this study empirically estimates the impact of trade openness and other factors on food security and traces a U-shaped (or inverted U-shaped) relationship between trade openness and food security by adopting a panel data fixed effect model as the baseline model, and then conducts the robustness test by using the least-squares (LS) procedure for the pooled data and a dynamic panel data (DPD) analysis with the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, simultaneously. The results show that: (1) a U-shaped relationship between trade openness and the four pillars of food security was found, which means that beyond a certain threshold of trade openness, food security status tends to improve in Central Asian countries; (2) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, GDP growth, and agricultural productivity have contributed to the improvement of food security. Employment in agriculture, arable land, freshwater withdrawals in agriculture, population growth, natural disasters, and inflation rate have negative impacts on food security; and (3) this study confirms that trade policy reforms can finally be conducive to improving food security in Central Asian countries. However, considering the effects of other factors, potential negative effects of trade openness, and vulnerability of global food trade network, ensuring reasonable levels of food self-sufficiency is still very important for Central Asian countries to achieve food security. Our research findings can provide scientific support for sustainable food system strategies in Central Asian countries.

Effects of Corruption Control on the Number of Undernourished People in Developing Countries

“…Increases in GDP influence the calories and nutrients available per capita [ 37 ], since this macroeconomic indicator defines people’s standard of living, and countries use their GDPs to purchase food, especially during times of scarcity [ 66 ]. For example, food-importing countries that are price-takers on the international market can achieve food security at reduced costs by varying the volume of imports while maintaining a modest buffer stock [ 11 ].…”

“…Employment is necessary to guarantee that persons have a source of income to purchase basic goods (including food) and take care of themselves [ 54 , 66 ]. Therefore, many countries attempt to ensure that their citizens are employed, since an increase by one percentage point in the country’s unemployment rate can be reflected in a 1.3% higher probability of experiencing food insecurity [ 67 ].…”

“…Trade also has a more significant impact on food availability than production and other economic determinants in import-dependent countries [ 37 ]. Trade policy changes can help improve food security [ 66 ].…”

Challenging the Status Quo to Shape Food Systems Transformation from a Nutritional and Food Security Perspective

“…Adequate and healthy diets imply choosing and consuming balanced and adequate foods on nutrients and amount, variety, and sustainable aspects. Therefore, achieving the main social, economic, environmental, cultural, and security goals [ 1 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Food production must also be alert to the waste produced in the food chain related to environmental pollution and food waste that could be used to feed food-insecure people [ 10 , 15 , 17 ].…”

“…Governments need to learn from this period and improve the food supply chain with innovative techniques and logistics to have more organized food systems [ 8 ]. To guarantee the four pillars of food security, availability, access, stability, and utilization, Sun and Zhang [ 9 ] emphasize the importance of trade openness and sustainable food system strategies. Guiné et al [ 7 ] discuss that the agrifood supply chain should be improved through policies worldwide to promote access to healthy and sustainable food.…”