Food Security Program of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2015.

Food Security Program of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2015 is a multisectoral document is aimed at ensuring food security the development of nutrition and agriculture. Food security is considered as the ability of the state to guarantee the satisfaction of food needs at a level that ensures the normal vital functioning of the population. The organization of a healthy diet, especially for vulnerable segments of the population: children, the elderly, etc., should be a subject of special care. The solution to these problems requires ensuring the physical and economic accessibility of the population in food in the right amount and assortment. The physical accessibility of food implies the uninterrupted supply of food to places of consumption in volumes and assortment corresponding to solvent demand. Economic accessibility is the ability of various segments of the population to purchase food products in a certain size and assortment by purchasing them at prevailing prices, as well as at the expense of funds allocated by the state to pay for food supplies to special categories of consumers.
The main priorities of the Program are set forth as follows: (a) ensuring availability and accessibility of food (economic and physical) based on the sustainable growth of the agricultural sector; (b) ensuring food security and organizing healthy nutrition of the population (especially vulnerable groups); and (c) ensuring food stability. The implementation of these priorities will help achieve the country's strategic goals, in particular, reducing poverty and starving people and reaching food sovereignty.
The country is not fully complying with the following social factors affecting nutritional status: (a) the practice of breastfeeding with exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age; and (b) the practice of weaning, timely inclusion in the diet of foods containing nutrients when weaning. It is necessary to note the insufficiently formed food supply system in case of threats and crisis situations. Instability to the consequences of natural disasters (drought, floods, hail, frosts, mudflows, etc.), as well as periodic outbreaks of dangerous animal diseases and crop pests cause great damage to food production. The most critical situation regards the consumption by the population of meat and meat products, eggs, milk and dairy products.
The main objective of the Food Security Program is to identify socially acceptable, cost-effective, as well as financially and technically feasible measures to achieve food security.
The priorities of this Program are determined by the following criteria: (a) by aspects of food security (availability, accessibility, consumption/use); (b) by food products (livestock and poultry products, the consumption of which is in a critical situation); (c) by food security issues (low production, poverty, high food-related diseases, inadequate water supply, unsustainable ecology, inadequate knowledge and outdated technologies); (d) by the deadlines (medium-term, long-term, depending on the availability of possible funding both from the state budget and from donors); (e) by socially vulnerable groups of the population; and (f) by sectors (agriculture, processing industry, water supply, infrastructure, healthcare, education).
The following measures are proposed to implement and achieve the goals and objectives set: (a) to increase domestic production of basic foodstuffs in order to supply the country's population with the recommended levels of consumption; (b) to develop and approve national recommended consumption levels for the entire range of foodstuffs required on a per capita basis; (c) to implement measures to reduce the dependence of the domestic food market on imports by increasing the competitiveness of domestic products; (d) to develop and implement regional policy aimed at equalizing the level of development of the regions, ensuring further economic growth of economic sectors, including agriculture, creation by the state of conditions for the realization of the labor potential of the poor population (especially in rural areas), strengthening the targeting of social assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the population; (e) in order to achieve the affordability of food, ensure a balance between the incomes of all groups of the population with the minimum recommended consumption levels of the basic range of products; (f) to develop food security monitoring system and translate it into international standards; (g) to optimize the system of formation, storage and use of public food stocks; and (h) to create conditions for the prevention of crisis situations through the establishment of an early warning system, the adoption of preventive measures and the development of an insurance system in agriculture.
An increase in production implies a change in the ratio of both crop and livestock production to gross agricultural output, and diversification in crop production. A more diverse production system will increase the sustainability of the agro-industrial sector, reduce the dependence of the economy on cotton price fluctuations, which is the main crop and will affect the more efficient development of the sector. Expanding the production of fodder crops will help to solve the main problem - the availability of fodder in the winter, which restrains the increase in production and livestock productivity. This will contribute to the growth of both intensive and extensive animal husbandry and the opening of ways for more intensive use of available pasture resources.