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 loo k for alternative means to stabilize prices and consumption particularly wh en carrying buffer stocks is expensive and self-sufficiency is economically inefficient. In today's market place, any country has the option of consum ing food that is produced domestically or imported. This paper shows that t rade and buffer stocks are two principal means to reconcile the conflicting realities of unstable harvests and stable consumption needs. (C) 2001 Soci ety for Policy Modeling. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.