Food Crops Vs. Feed Crops: Global Substitution of Grains in Production

The attainment of food self-sufficiency has been a major goal of developing countries over the past 25 years. Yet, in the 1980s, most of these countries have increased, often dramatically, their dependence on food imports.;Within this context, the authors assess the implications for producer welfare of the changes in grain production and consumption in developing countries from 1960 to 1985 - changes in grains produced, who produces them, who buys them and to what end. As developing economies are integrated into the world commodity markets, argue the authors, they tend increasingly toward substitution of grains in production: feed crops for animals displace food crops for people. There is also a corresponding shift from labour-intensive farming to mechanized agriculture. As a result, not only does food dependency increase - as measured by continuing growth in imports and foreign trade imbalances - but nutritional improvements are also forestalled. The authors' analysis of changing patterns of grain cultivation aims to identify how these lead to substantially altered patterns of nutrition, employment generation and income distribution.