ARMENIA HAS SUFFICIENT QUANTITY OF FOOD

Noyan Tapan
Sept 08 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the national food
balance, in 2005, the daily supply of 14 commodity groups per capita
made 2,755.7 kilocalories in Armenia against 2,590 kilocalories
in 2004. Based on the Food Security and Poverty Report prepared by
the RA National Statistical Service, the growth of this index shows
that the country has a sufficient quantity of food, and in terms of
assessing the food security, special importance is attached to the
problem of food availability, including uneven distribution of food.

According to the report, the results of household surveys also
indicate this.

In 2005, food consumption per capita made 2,062 kilocalories, while in
the groups with the lowest and highest consumption the indices were
1,404 amd 3,296 kilocalories respectively. Self-sufficiency in goods
which account for the largest share in the structure of food is also
important from the viewpoint of assessing the state of food security
in the country. For example, in 2005, the wheat self-sufficiency
grew by 2.1% on the previous year and made 43.7%, which was due to
a considerable decline in wheat imports. The opposite tendency was
registered in the commodity group of chicken meat: although there was
a production growth in 2005, the self-sufficiency in chicken meat
declined by 5.6% to 18.7% at the expense of increased imports. The
self-sufficiency in the vegetable oil and sugar commodity groups
continues to be low: 1.5% and 1.8% respectively. The self-sufficiency
in other food commodity groups is high: pork – 57.3%, groats -58.7%,
beef -76.8%, fruit – 95.7%, grapes – 98.2%, milk – 99.8%, potato –
99.9%, mutton – 100%, vegetables – 101.7% and eggs -101.8%.