Main Directions of Food Security in the Black Sea Region

Introduction. The process of improvement and redistribution of legal and budgetary powers has significantly increased the responsibility of regions in providing their territories with food products. But the lack of a unified national policy in the sphere of regions’ food provision, the need to take into account the peculiarities of provision of individual regions with food products, the inconsistency of the regulatory and legal framework and state support of agriculture and food industry show that these problems in each region of the country are carried out independently, taking into account the available opportunities.
Creation of an effective complex in food security regulation at the regional level in the direction of combining the public administration’s efforts, research institutions, enterprises, consumers, organizations on the priority principles of innovation, taking into account local realities and foreign experience, will ensure a high level of food security in the region.
Materials and methods. Theoretical and scientific-methodological basis of the study was the analysis of directions of ensuring and regulating the Black Sea region food security. In the process of the study, I used such methods and approaches as logical generalization and synthesis to form the main conclusions and proposals of the study; graphic-visualization of the results of identification of the main directions and objectives of the formation of the Black Sea region food security.
Results. The Black Sea region is not a separate administrative-territorial unit, which complicates intra-regional coordination of food resources provision and necessitates the need to create an effective regional mechanism to ensure food security. However, it is not appropriate to consider food security exclusively within the Black Sea region, as strict limitations on the territorial principle are dangerous for ensuring stability. For example, the failure of a region due to political-economic or difficult natural conditions (such as military actions, droughts, veterinary and sanitary restrictions, etc.) to ensure sufficient supply of a certain commodity in the same region may lead to a significant threat to food security by complicating access to food due to shortages and price increases. This situation will be difficult to remedy quickly, as the importation of scarce products from other regions of the Russian Federation will be complicated by intra-regional policies and may become dangerous for the livelihoods of the population of regions that are affected by the crisis.
Local governments participate in ensuring food security, in the organization of nutrition in educational, cultural, physical education and sports institutions, in recreational institutions that belong to the administration of the region or transferred to them, as well as in the organization of nutrition for low-income elderly citizens, persons with disabilities, in the organization of free meals in boarding homes [1].
There are also deputy commissions with these issues. For example, in the State Council of the Republic of Crimea there is a permanent deputy commission on agrarian policy and rural development, the task of which is to study the issues of development of agro-industrial complex of the region, in particular food security, support of agricultural enterprises and rural construction; to study the state of rational use of land, organization of land management and protection of land on the territory of the region within the limits of authority; to consider the issues of land management and protection of land in the region.
To ensure food security it is important to stimulate interregional cooperation within the Black Sea region by expanding the scope of intraindustrial and cooperation links for the effective use of agro-industrial potential of the state. Coordination should be carried out not only in the allocation of resources, but also at the stage of research of demand for food, which will allow to quickly adapt to changes and promptly respond to possible dangers. 
The directions of improving the state regulation of food supply processes in the region are presented in Fig. 1.
The main goal of the functioning of the regional mechanism for increasing the level of food security can be the establishment of stable regional food supply chains by ensuring the effective use of agro-industrial potential of the region and increasing the purchasing power of the population to ensure access of the population to the necessary quality food products.
Fig. 1. Directions for improving the state regulation of the processes of the population’s food supply in the region
One of the directions for achieving this goal is to establish trade in agri-food products on the principles of openness and predictability through economic cooperation and concentration by creating regional procurement and supply cooperatives. Also, the priority direction of ensuring the Black Sea region food security is to achieve a stable level of profitability of agricultural production through financing the construction of irrigation facilities.
The overall development of the agri-food sector will contribute to food independence and economic development of the region. It will be expedient to increase the level of interregional cooperation on the development of a joint action program and ensuring an effective mechanism for its implementation, which provides for coordinated activities of public authorities, local self-government, agricultural and food producers in cooperation with international organizations and regional research institutions.
Research institutions in the realization of food security provide:
− realization of the state’s current monitoring of food security in the region with identification of the main problems and potential threats;
− providing feedback on topical issues both with government agencies and with food producers and consumers in the region;
− providing recommendations on the development of food security areas based on the monitoring conducted through the development and introduction into production of modern and innovative crop cultivation technologies by research institutions of the region.
For example, at the Azov-Black Sea Engineering Institute, there is a department of “Agronomy and crop breeding”, which was created to consolidate efforts in solving scientific problems and issues of implementation of a reliable and effective system of material and technical support of agricultural production, adapted to the natural and climatic conditions of the south of the Russian Federation. On the basis of the Crimean Federal University there is the Agrotechnological Academy, created to solve a number of problems of economics, entrepreneurship, marketing, management, financial and credit, accounting and analytical support of agro-industrial production, approbation and implementation of scientific achievements and developments in the production units of the Academy, agrarian formations of Crimea and the Russian Federation [3, 4].
Problematic research on the development of innovative technologies in agro-industrial production, their implementation in the educational process and production is also carried out at the regional level. In 2019, the research laboratory “Center of Agrobiotechnology” was established on the basis of DSTU to conduct research aimed at the creation and development of probiotic scientific and applied base for agricultural animal husbandry and aquaculture to improve the quality and health of farm animals [5, 6].
Ensuring food security in the Black Sea region will be facilitated by the development of long-term programs for the development of food potential of the agro-industrial complex with ensuring the rational use of land resources and the ability to quickly implement innovations [7].
One of the components of food security is the purchasing power of the population. Only the problem of low purchasing power of the population of the region due to insufficient state support for the development of rural areas is especially aggravated in villages and small towns due to the lack of sufficient number of jobs. This requires the development of state regulation policy in the directions of self-employment and non-agrarian types of business, the creation of new agri-industrial enterprises with a continuous cycle of work or modernization of existing ones through the re-profiling of production capacities in rural areas [8, 9, 10].
Carrying out foreign trade, it is necessary to redirect to qualitative indicators, which, if necessary, provide for the import of agricultural raw materials and export of food products, which will contribute to increasing the income of producers in the agri-industrial sphere of the Black Sea region [11, 12]. It is expedient to increase the level of food import substitution.
State regulation of food security of the region in the sphere of international trade in food products should be carried out in the following directions:
− ensuring the protection of the economic interests of agricultural and food producers through the implementation of a set of customs-tariff and non-tariff measures in accordance with Russia’s international obligations;
− development of import substitution measures to ensure food independence of the region.
State regulation of food security of the region in the economic sphere should provide for:
− implementation of financial and credit policy to support producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs;
− development of the regional food market with improved logistic-infrastructural support and settlement of interregional trade relations;
− implementation of food pricing policy and control over its realization.
State regulation of regional food security in the social sphere should contain:
− ensuring availability of quality and sufficient food for every resident of the region;
− increasing the level of effective demand for food products by raising the standard of living of the population;
− exercising control over the quality and safety of food products;
− ensuring state reserve of foodstuffs to ensure stability of foodstuffs supply and regulation of demand and supply.
State regulation of food security in the region in the direction of interaction with the scientific and educational sphere should provide for:
− economic support for the development of innovations in the agri-industrial complex of the region;
− stimulating the introduction of innovative scientific and technical developments by producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs;
− ensuring the improvement of the level of education of participants of the agri-industrial complex.
So, the development of food security in the region is possible only if a set of measures to improve the competitiveness of the regional agri-food sector and to ensure a sufficient socio-economic level of provision of food consumers at the regional level.
Discussion and conclusion. Ensuring food security in the Black Sea region will be facilitated by the development of long-term programs for the development of food potential of the agri-industrial complex with ensuring the rational use of land resources and the ability to quickly implement innovations. One of the components of food security is the purchasing power of the population. But the problem of low purchasing power of the population of the region through insufficient state support for the development of rural areas is especially aggravated in villages and small towns due to the lack of sufficient number of jobs. This requires the development of state regulation policy in the areas of self-employment and non-agrarian business development, creation of new agri-industrial enterprises with a continuous cycle of work or modernization of existing ones through the re-profiling of their production capacities in rural areas.