Abstract:

Food security is a permanent concern worldwide given the rapid growth of the population, the limitation of natural resources or the global climate change. From a macroeconomic point of view, the food security is a basic component of the social, economic, and national security of a state. The paper proposes a comparative presentation and analysis of Romania and the Republic of Moldova from the perspective of the main food security indicators. Although there are important differences between the two countries in providing food for the population, there are also common issues specific to food security. In the analysis, specific data on food production and consumption, natural resources, demographic changes, consumer habits, dependence of the domestic import market in the two neighboring countries were considered. In recent years, the agrifood production conditions and natural resources in the two analysed countries have been affected by economic developments, inappropriate economic measures or by various land restructuring activities. The main criteria for the comparative analysis of food security for the two countries were food availability, price volatility, agricultural production, food imports, the share of food costs in the income of the population. The lack of coherent strategies dedicated to food agriculture and food security, the incoherence of decisions, the rapid changes in the structure of the agricultural sector and the local food industries, in trade, as well as in globalization and trade liberalization, lead to rapid changes in the consumers’ needs and demands on the food’s quality and safety, food security, nutrition, legislation and control. Although both countries are confronted with the dependence of the import national food market, Romania’s membership in the European Economic Area can reduce the impact of food insecurity.