Assessment Of Food Self-Sufficiency In The Context Of Instability In Eastern Europe

In the face of growing geopolitical and economic challenges, ensuring food self-sufficiency is becoming a key component of national security. This paper assesses the level of food self-sufficiency in the production of basic agricultural commodities in Eastern European countries affected by instability. Four agricultural markets are examined: cereals, potatoes, cow’s milk, and pork. The study covers seven countries located directly or indirectly within the zone of instability: Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. The analysis focuses on the trade balance in volume terms, consumption relative to production, the food self-sufficiency ratio (SSR), and dietary energy availability (DEP) per capita in 2014-2023. The results indicate that most countries in the region import more pork and potatoes than they export, whereas the opposite is observed for cow’s milk and cereals. The consumption-to-production ratios point to surpluses in cow’s milk and cereals, while SSR values vary considerably across countries. Moreover, all analysed countries maintained dietary energy availability (DEP) above 2,500 kcal per capita per day.