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AVAILABILITY OF FOOD
The availability of food within a specific country can be guar-
anteed in two ways: Either by food production in the country it-
self or by trade. The first option has been discussed extensively
in the previous chapters. The second option has become more
and more important (Figure 29), with increasing transport
possibilities and storing capacities and the growing challenges
faced by some countries in their domestic production, includ-
ing because of limitations in available cropland. International
trade in agricultural products has expanded more rapidly than
global agricultural GDP (FAO, 2005).
The past several decades have witnessed a major increase in
the integration of the world economy through trade. Many
parts of the world have experienced high economic growth in
recent years. For example, Asia’s GDP has increased by 9%
annually between 2004 and 2006, and growth is especially
high in China and India. Sub-Saharan Africa experienced 6%
annual growth in the same period, after a long period of re-
cession in many countries. Even countries with a prevalence
of hunger reported some economic growth, although this is
not always reflected in social conditions. However, global eco-
Total agricultural
exports (billion USD)
1960
1970 1980 1990
2000
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Figure 29: World cereal trade in agriculture has increased steadi-
ly in the past decades.
OECD has always been the major net
exporter and Asia has become a major net importer. (Source:
FAOSTAT, 2009).