National self-sufficiency in food

Developed countries as a group, and most of them individually, show a definite, significant trend towards higher degrees of overall food self-sufficiency while at the same time there is international consensus on the appropriateness of the same objective for developing countries and its incorporation in the plans of these countries. The author considers what the right balance of policies on selfsufficiency should be at the national, regional and international level after examining the trends, ways of measuring self-sufficiency, and future prospects.