Executive Summary
This paper provides an overview of the current state of food security and poverty in selected countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and compares this with the overall global situation. An array of economic and policy factors, which have been shaping food security in these countries, are also explored.
It concludes that caloric intake as a measure of undernourishment is currently not the major problem for the countries in question (except Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Rather, challenges related to food access, stability, and utilization are more pressing, and will likely remain so in the future. Poverty has been seen as the key constraint to the improvement of household food security, primarily in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) sub-region.
As a result, it is suggested that governments develop and implement a comprehensive approach to the revival and development of their agricultural and rural sectors. If properly carried out, this should result in a sustainable increase in incomes of the rural populace, which is the group that is most vulnerable to food insecurity