A New Global Method for Measuring Food Self-Sufficiency: Introducing SSFSSR
Published in Agricultural & Food Science
For many years, there has been no unified global method to measure national food self-sufficiency using standardized datasets and a common formula. Existing indicators—such as the conventional cereal-based self-sufficiency ratio—are limited in scope and fail to capture modern food systems.
I developed a new metric, the Supply-Side Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio -Supply side Food Self-sufficiency Ratio (SSFSSR), which was accepted by Agriculture and Food Security (BMC, Q1) in August 2025.
SSFSSR uses FAOSTAT data to calculate annual food self-sufficiency for 64 items, including cereals, livestock products, vegetables, fruits, edible oils, sugar, and aquatic products.
Two major contributions of this study are:
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Development of the Primary Product Conversion Rate (PPCR), enabling the conversion of secondary products into primary equivalents.
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A new finding that lowering PPCR increases a country's food self-sufficiency ratio without increasing actual food production.
This method provides a globally standardized and reproducible approach for policymakers, researchers, and international organizations concerned with food security.
Preprint:
Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13740850
Researcher Square: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5013312/v2
SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4943561
agriRxiv: https://doi.org/10.31220/agriRxiv.2024.00274
Published (Agriculture & Food Security):
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-025-00570-z
I am Professor Emeritus at Aichi University, Japan, specializing in Chinese agricultural economics, food security, and land systems. I developed the Supply-Side Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSFSSR) and Primary Product Conversion Rate (PPCR), innovative methods for measuring global food security. My research combines historical and empirical approaches, covering Chinese land regimes, rural economy, and international food balance. I am committed to advancing academic and policy discussions on sustainable food systems.
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Agriculture & Food Security
This is a peer-reviewed open access journal that addresses the challenge of food security.
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