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On the Road to Food Self-Sufficiency after 2014: Case Study of Kaliningrad Oblast

  • SPATIAL FEATURES OF SECTORAL DEVELOPMENT
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Abstract

Russia’s foreign trade relations in the 2010s developed in the face of various geopolitical challenges, which led to a radical transformation in the volume and geography of export–import operations. For the food sector, the key challenge was the food embargo of 2014, which, in turn, intensified import substitution policy in Russian agriculture and food production. The value of imports in the food market, the current level of development of agriculture and food production, the degree of diversification and localization of raw material relationships of enterprises acted as differentiating factors in the impact of new external challenges on the food self-sufficiency of regions. Kaliningrad oblast is of particular interest for studying the transformation of food self-sufficiency, given its exclave position, a low level of agricultural development a decade ago, and close export–import ties with European countries until 2014. The paper assesses food self-sufficiency, analyzes the corresponding territorial and sectoral shifts in agriculture and food production, and considers changes in the import component in the food market of Kaliningrad oblast. The study uses data from the Federal State Statistics Service, the Kaliningrad Oblast Customs Service, and the results of expert interviews and visual observations conducted by the authors in August 2020. It was revealed that transformation of the food self-sufficiency of Kaliningrad oblast, on the one hand, reflects all-Russian trends, and on the other, has unique features. The uniqueness is associated with the rapid growth of agriculture as a result of government support. In addition, there is a relatively dispersed distribution of key centers of agricultural production, atypical of many regions in mainland Russia. The beneficiaries of the free market niches that opened up after the 2014 food embargo, as in most of Russia, were large holdings, but many of them, in contrast to those located in the country’s interior, were quite acutely aware of breaks in raw material ties.

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Notes

  1. On Approval of the Doctrine of Food Security of the Russian Federation: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation no. 120 of January 30, 2010. Accessed from the legal reference system ConsultantPlus.

  2. On approval of the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation no. 20 of January 21, 2020. Accessed from the legal reference system ConsultantPlus.

  3. Food balance sheets, 2007–2017 Rosstat. https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/11110/document/13277. Accessed Sep-tember 26, 2021; Food balance sheets, 2018, 2019. Rosstat. https://rosstat.gov.ru/compendium/document/13278. Accessed September 26, 2021.

  4. There is no personal consumption for grain and legumes; use of grain and its processing products for processing into products are estimated.

  5. Order of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia no. 389 of July 16, 2020 On Approval of the Methodology for Compiling the Balance of Fish and Fish Products to Determine the Average Per Capita Level of Their Consumption. https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/hZfgYRzC/met-balans.pdf. Ac-cessed March 5, 2022.

  6. “Fishery Complex of Kaliningrad Oblast” (under of the State Program of Kaliningrad Oblast “Development of the Fishery Complex for 2014−2019, stage 1”): analytical note. Kaliningrad: Kaliningradstat, 2020.

  7. Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation no. 614 of August 19, 2016 On Approval of the Recommendations on Rational Norms for the Consumption of Food Products that Meet Modern Requirements for a Healthy Diet. Accessed from the legal reference system ConsultantPlus.

  8. EMISS: Average consumer prices (tariffs) for goods and services. https://www.fedstat.ru/indicator/31448. Accessed September 29, 2021.

  9. Rosstat: Income, expenditure, and consumption of households. https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/11110/document/13271. Accessed September 9, 2021.

  10. Hereinafter the municipal status of areas is specified as of 2022.

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Funding

The study was financed by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 20-05-00739). Map materials were prepared as part of research work of the state task of RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, 236041, Kaliningrad, Russia

    K. Yu. Voloshenko

  2. St. Petersburg State University, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    K. A. Morachevskaya

  3. Kaliningrad State Technical University, 236022, Kaliningrad, Russia

    A. A. Novikova

  4. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    E. A. Lyzhina

  5. Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, 119571, Moscow, Russia

    L. V. Kalinovskii

Authors
  1. K. Yu. Voloshenko
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  2. K. A. Morachevskaya
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  3. A. A. Novikova
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  4. E. A. Lyzhina
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  5. L. V. Kalinovskii
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Correspondence to K. Yu. Voloshenko, K. A. Morachevskaya, A. A. Novikova, E. A. Lyzhina or L. V. Kalinovskii.

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Voloshenko, K.Y., Morachevskaya, K.A., Novikova, A.A. et al. On the Road to Food Self-Sufficiency after 2014: Case Study of Kaliningrad Oblast. Reg. Res. Russ. 13, 239–251 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970523700661

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