Page 234 - Climate Change and Food Systems

climate change and food systems: global assessments and implications for food security and trade
table 1
The top wheat producers in 1991 and in 2012
Wheat yields t/ha
Wheat production, metric tonnes
1991
2011
1991
2011
China
USSR
Russia
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
USA
Canada
Australia
Brazil
Source: (FAOSTAT 2013)
4.2
1.5
4.6
2.6
1.6
1.6
4.8 95 953 781
117 410 000
56 239 990
22 323 600
22 732 000
54 413 310
25 261 400
27 410 076
5 690 043
71 991 008
2.3
3.4
1.7
2.9 53 890 000
3.0 31 945 600
2.0 10 557 400
2.7 2 916 823
across Eastern Europe and Central Asia that
has resulted in fundamental transformation of their agricultural systems and land use. These transitional economies went through a stage of catastrophic decline in 1991 to 2000. The “Free Market” reforms of the 1990s made a heavy impact on the economy of the former USSR. Deterioration of the agriculture sector contributed to an overall economic decline. For instance, from 1991 to 2001, gross domestic product (GDP) in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan declined by 65-67 percent (UNData 2013), average life expectancy declined from
69 to 65 years, and male life expectancy in
rural areas of the Russian Federation declined from 61 to 53 years (Prishchepov et al., 2013). This economic and social crisis was particularly pronounced in rural regions, where state support of agriculture ended and rural development ceased almost entirely (Prishchepov et al.,
2013). The major changing trends in the 1990s were the disintegration of the centrally planned institutions and existing agricultural policies, uncertainties about the legal status of land, sharp declines of agricultural subsidies and other forms of governmental support (Lioubimtseva and Henebry, 2012). Producer support estimates from
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan indicate substantial positive support for farmers up to 1991, which then fell almost to zero in the following few years (OECD-FAO 2008). As the subsidies declined,
the high cost of imported herbicides, fungicides and insecticides caused farmers to cut back on their use (Lerman et al., 2004). Fertilizer use fell by 85 percent in the Russian Federation and Ukraine and by almost 90 percent in Kazakhstan between 1990 and 2000 and total grain production fell by more than 50 percent during the same period
of time (FAOSTAT 2013). Between 1990 and 2000, investments in the Russian Federation’s agricultural sector declined from USD 39 billion
to USD 2 billion (Prishchepov et al., 2013) and the area of land under cereals was reduced from 65 million to 50 million hectares (Liefert et al., 2009a). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the use of arable lands in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan together dropped from 200 million hectares in 1991 to 177 million hectares
in 2003 (FAOSTAT 2013), which constituted a withdrawal of 23 million hectares or 12 percent of the arable lands in 1991 (Lioubimtseva and
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