Storage-trade interactions under uncertainty - Implications for food security

The recent trend towards a more market-oriented global economy has reduced public support to commodity programs and led to a decline in buffer stocks of food grains in several cereal-exporting countries. Countries have to look for alternative means to stabilize prices and consumption particularly when carrying buffer stocks is expensive and self-sufficiency is economically inefficient. In today's market place, any country has the option of consuming food that is produced domestically or imported. This paper shows that trade and buffer stocks are two principal means to reconcile the conflicting realities of unstable harvests and stable consumption needs. (C) 2001 Society for Policy Modeling. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.