Files
Abstract
The main objective of this article is to analyze food demand in Venezuela, in order to examine
the influence of real food prices, real income and its distribution, as well as other factors
(such as domestic production, domestic agribusiness, land tenure, imports, shortages
and food public networks), on the consumption of food and nutrients in Venezuela during
the 1970-2014 period. Thus, based on official data and other secondary sources, a regression
model using Ordinary Linear Square was estimated and some food and nutrition indicators
were also constructed. Main findings show significant estimators and with expected signs for
real prices, imports, domestic food production and real income and its distribution as explanatory
variables of food demand in Venezuela. Nevertheless, future food and nutrition
policies should focus on improving income distribution and stimulate domestic food production,
rather than maintaining low prices and overvalued exchange rates, since such policy
tools have discouraged domestic production and increased external dependence of Venezuela
in terms of food security.