IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v141y2021ics0305750x21000231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Specialization in food production affects global food security and food systems sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Campi, Mercedes
  • Dueñas, Marco
  • Fagiolo, Giorgio

Abstract

Understanding specialization patterns of countries in food production can provide relevant insights for the evaluation and design of policies seeking to achieve food security and sustainability, which are key to reach several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper builds bipartite networks of food products and food-producing countries, using FAO data from 1993 to 2013, to characterize the global food production system. We use methods from complex systems analysis to rank products according to their need for capabilities and countries according to their competitiveness, which derives from the quality and diversification of their food production baskets. We observe two well-defined communities of food-producing countries, one that groups countries with relatively developed agricultural systems, and the other grouping countries with less developed production systems. The stability of these two communities reveals persistent differences between countries specialization patterns. We econometrically analyze whether and how specialization patterns affect food supply, food security (SDGs: Targets 2.1 and 2.2), and sustainability of food systems (SDGs: Target 2.4). We show that concentrating agricultural production negatively impacts food supply, food security, and food systems sustainability. The competitiveness of countries and the coherence of their diversification patterns increase per capita food supply and food security but might harm sustainability. This evidence reflects the trade-off between achieving food security while simultaneously improving sustainability, which needs to be considered when developing or implementing policies seeking to reach SDGs.

Suggested Citation

  • Campi, Mercedes & Dueñas, Marco & Fagiolo, Giorgio, 2021. "Specialization in food production affects global food security and food systems sustainability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:141:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21000231
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X21000231
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105411?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2016. "Production complexity, adaptability and economic growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-61.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    3. Philip G. Pardey & Connie Chan-Kang & Steven P. Dehmer & Jason M. Beddow, 2016. "Agricultural R&D is on the move," Nature, Nature, vol. 537(7620), pages 301-303, September.
    4. Andrea Zaccaria & Matthieu Cristelli & Andrea Tacchella & Luciano Pietronero, 2014. "How the Taxonomy of Products Drives the Economic Development of Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Mercedes Campi & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2021. "Intellectual Property Rights and Agricultural Development: Evidence from a Worldwide Index of IPRs in Agriculture (1961-2018)," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 650-668, April.
    6. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    7. Béné, Christophe & Oosterveer, Peter & Lamotte, Lea & Brouwer, Inge D. & de Haan, Stef & Prager, Steve D. & Talsma, Elise F. & Khoury, Colin K., 2019. "When food systems meet sustainability – Current narratives and implications for actions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 116-130.
    8. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    9. Dave Donaldson, 2019. "Comparative advantage and agricultural trade," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(S1), pages 29-40, November.
    10. Petralia, Sergio & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Morrison, Andrea, 2017. "Climbing the ladder of technological development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 956-969.
    11. Matthieu Cristelli & Andrea Gabrielli & Andrea Tacchella & Guido Caldarelli & Luciano Pietronero, 2013. "Measuring the Intangibles: A Metrics for the Economic Complexity of Countries and Products," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-20, August.
    12. Blesh, Jennifer & Hoey, Lesli & Jones, Andrew D. & Friedmann, Harriet & Perfecto, Ivette, 2019. "Development pathways toward “zero hunger”," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1-14.
    13. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    14. Mercedes Campi & Marco Dueñas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2019. "How do countries specialize in food production? A complex-network analysis of the global agricultural product space," Documentos de trabajo del Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política IIEP (UBA-CONICET) 2020-48, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política IIEP (UBA-CONICET).
    15. Hausmann, Ricardo & Hidalgo, Cesar, 2014. "The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262525429, April.
    16. Sanjaya Lall, 2000. "The Technological Structure and Performance of Developing Country Manufactured Exports, 1985-98," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 337-369.
    17. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    18. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & David Rigby, 2017. "The Geography of Complex Knowledge," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23, January.
    19. Caccavale, Oscar Maria & Giuffrida, Valerio, 2020. "The Proteus composite index: Towards a better metric for global food security," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    20. Adrian Muller & Christian Schader & Nadia El-Hage Scialabba & Judith Brüggemann & Anne Isensee & Karl-Heinz Erb & Pete Smith & Peter Klocke & Florian Leiber & Matthias Stolze & Urs Niggli, 2017. "Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    21. Lowder, Sarah K. & Skoet, Jakob & Raney, Terri, 2016. "The Number, Size, and Distribution of Farms, Smallholder Farms, and Family Farms Worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 16-29.
    22. Abhishek Chaudhary & David Gustafson & Alexander Mathys, 2018. "Multi-indicator sustainability assessment of global food systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    23. C. A. Hidalgo & B. Klinger & A. -L. Barabasi & R. Hausmann, 2007. "The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations," Papers 0708.2090, arXiv.org.
    24. Michael J. Puma, 2019. "Resilience of the global food system," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 260-261, April.
    25. Guido Caldarelli & Matthieu Cristelli & Andrea Gabrielli & Luciano Pietronero & Antonio Scala & Andrea Tacchella, 2012. "A Network Analysis of Countries’ Export Flows: Firm Grounds for the Building Blocks of the Economy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-11, October.
    26. Ricardo, David, 1821. "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 3, number ricardo1821.
    27. David Tilman & Michael Clark, 2014. "Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 515(7528), pages 518-522, November.
    28. Peter Oosterveer, 2007. "Global Governance of Food Production and Consumption," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4257.
    29. David J. Teece & Richard Rumelt & Giovanni Dosi & Sidney Winter, 2000. "Understanding Corporate Coherence: Theory and Evidence," Chapters, in: Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics, chapter 9, pages 264-293, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    30. Amelia B. Finaret & William A. Masters, 2019. "Beyond Calories: The New Economics of Nutrition," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 237-259, October.
    31. Matteo Bruno & Fabio Saracco & Tiziano Squartini & Marco Due~nas, 2018. "Colombian export capabilities: building the firms-products network," Papers 1809.03222, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2018.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Filippo Bontadini & Mercedes Campio & Marco Duenas, 2023. "Being at the core: firm product specialisation," LEM Papers Series 2023/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Hanna Dudek & Joanna Myszkowska-Ryciak & Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska, 2021. "Profiles of Food Insecurity: Similarities and Differences across Selected CEE Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Mohammad Fazle Rabbi & Morshadul Hasan & Sándor Kovács, 2021. "Food Security and Transition towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Mercedes Campi & Marco Dueñas & Tommaso Ciarli, 2024. "Do creative industries enhance employment growth? Regional evidence from Colombia," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 425-441, March.
    5. Tatar, Maryna, 2023. "Agricultural sector development and elasticity of its links with the food security level," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 9(4), December.
    6. Tatar, Maryna, 2023. "Agricultural Sector Development and Elasticity of its Links with the Food Security Level," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 9(4), January.
    7. Kornher, Lukas & Kubik, Zaneta & Chichaibelu, Bezawit Beyene & Torero Cullen, Maximo, 2023. "The aid-nutrition link – Does targeted development assistance related to food systems matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Zhiqi Sun & Ruifa Hu & Yu Hong, 2022. "Does yield gap still matter? Evidence from rice production in China," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(3), pages 829-840, June.
    9. Ondrej Beňuš & Peter Bielik & Natália Turčeková & Izabela Adamičková, 2021. "Sustainability of the Slovak Spirits Industry in the Single Market of the EU," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-17, May.
    10. Aragie, E. & Balié, J. & Morales, C. & Pauw, K., 2023. "Synergies and trade-offs between agricultural export promotion and food security: Evidence from African economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    11. Siphelele Vincent Wekeza & Melusi Sibanda & Kenneth Nhundu, 2022. "Prospects for Organic Farming in Coping with Climate Change and Enhancing Food Security in Southern Africa: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    12. Abdulrasheed Zakari & Jurij Toplak & Luka Martin Tomažič, 2022. "Exploring the Relationship between Energy and Food Security in Africa with Instrumental Variables Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Campi, Mercedes & Dueñas, Marco, 2022. "Clusters and Resilience during the COVID–19 Crisis: Evidence from Colombian Exporting Firms," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12527, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Di Novi, Cinzia & Marenzi, Anna, 2022. "Improving health and sustainability: Patterns of red and processed meat consumption across generations," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(12), pages 1324-1330.
    15. Guoqun Ma & Danyang Lv & Tuanbiao Jiang & Yuxi Luo, 2023. "Can Land Transfer Promote Agricultural Green Transformation? The Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-17, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mercedes Campi & Marco Duenas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2020. "Specialization in food production, global food security and sustainability," LEM Papers Series 2020/05, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Mercedes Campi & Marco Duenas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2019. "How do countries specialize in food production? A complex-network analysis of the global agricultural product space," LEM Papers Series 2019/37, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Hausmann, Ricardo & Stock, Daniel P. & Yıldırım, Muhammed A., 2022. "Implied comparative advantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    4. Angelica Sbardella & Andrea Zaccaria & Luciano Pietronero & Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2021. "Behind the Italian Regional Divide: An Economic Fitness and Complexity Perspective," LEM Papers Series 2021/30, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Bernardo Caldarola & Dario Mazzilli & Lorenzo Napolitano & Aurelio Patelli & Angelica Sbardella, 2023. "Economic complexity and the sustainability transition: A review of data, methods, and literature," Papers 2308.07172, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    6. Zoran Utkovski & Melanie F Pradier & Viktor Stojkoski & Fernando Perez-Cruz & Ljupco Kocarev, 2018. "Economic complexity unfolded: Interpretable model for the productive structure of economies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, August.
    7. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "Do Unilateral Trade Preferences Help Reduce Poverty in Beneficiary Countries?," EconStor Preprints 247346, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Naima Chrid & Sami Saafi & Mohamed Chakroun, 2021. "Export Upgrading and Economic Growth: a Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 811-841, June.
    9. Sudeshna Ghosh & Buhari Doğan & Muhlis Can & Muhammad Ibrahim Shah & Nicholas Apergis, 2023. "Does economic structure matter for income inequality?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2507-2527, June.
    10. Antonis Adam & Antonios Garas & Marina-Selini Katsaiti & Athanasios Lapatinas, 2023. "Economic complexity and jobs: an empirical analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 25-52, January.
    11. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2023. "Do unilateral trade preferences help reduce poverty in beneficiary countries?," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 249-288, February.
    12. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    13. Francesco de Cunzo & Alberto Petri & Andrea Zaccaria & Angelica Sbardella, 2022. "The trickle down from environmental innovation to productive complexity," Papers 2206.07537, arXiv.org.
    14. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade flows and Poverty Reduction in Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 213807, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Saurabh Mishra & Robert Koopman & Giuditta De-Prato & Anand Rao & Israel Osorio-Rodarte & Julie Kim & Nikola Spatafora & Keith Strier & Andrea Zaccaria, 2021. "AI Specialization for Pathways of Economic Diversification," Papers 2103.11042, arXiv.org.
    16. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "Reprint of The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    17. Penny Mealy & Diane Coyle, 2022. "To them that hath: economic complexity and local industrial strategy in the UK," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 358-377, April.
    18. Petralia, Sergio & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Morrison, Andrea, 2017. "Climbing the ladder of technological development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 956-969.
    19. Bustos, Sebastián & Yıldırım, Muhammed A., 2022. "Production Ability and economic growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    20. Elena Paglialunga & Andrea Coveri & Antonello Zanfei, 2020. "Climate change and inequality in a global context. Exploring climate induced disparities and the reaction of economic systems," Working Papers 2003, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2020.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Specialization; Diversification; Food supply; Food security; Sustainability; Complex networks; Bipartite networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:141:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21000231. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.