ADAPTATION OF THE METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING THE CONSUMER BASKET TO CONTEMPORARY FOOD SECURITY CONDITIONS

Abstract

The article examines the current regulatory methodology for forming the consumer basket in Ukraine and its role in ensuring and measuring food security. The shortcomings of the existing approach to determining the composition of food products and the cost of the basket are analyzed, in particular its inconsistency with contemporary socio-economic realities and the physiological needs of the population. The necessity of adapting the methodology for calculating the consumer basket as an indicator of food security to the current conditions of martial law in Ukraine is substantiated. The relevance of the study is determined by persistent inflationary growth, transformation of the structure of household consumer expenditures, disruption of logistics chains, and limited purchasing power of the population, which reduces the representativeness of the existing normative consumer basket methodology as an economic indicator. The economic essence of the consumer basket as an indicator of food security and a tool for assessing the standard of living is clarified. The regulatory and legal framework for forming the consumer basket in Ukraine is analyzed, and its limited adaptability to the conditions of a wartime economy is identified. International experience in applying various approaches and methods for calculating the consumer (price) basket, including normative, statistical, sociological, median, and resource-based methods, is analyzed, which made it possible to identify their advantages and limitations within the food security assessment system. A critical analysis of the current methodology for measuring the consumer basket in Ukraine is conducted from the standpoint of its economic validity and compliance with contemporary crisis conditions. Based on the research results, practical recommendations are formulated regarding the use of a combined (adaptive) model for measuring the consumer basket within the system of state social standards and mechanisms of governmental support for the population, taking into account international experience. The application of such a model will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of socio-economic policy and strengthening Ukraine’s food security. The scientific novelty of the article lies in improving the methodological approach to measuring the consumer basket through its adaptation to the economic conditions of martial law in Ukraine, which substantiates the feasibility of applying the author’s combined (adaptive) model for measuring the consumer basket.