I find it ironic that your example of "it actually can work" is a country that recently suffered a revolution after the price of wheat doubled due to a drought in another country.
What would you consider a failure?
What would you consider a failure?
I merely mean that economically the supply side is harder to manage at a board/national level than the demand side. Has a lot to do with many many producers but only a few companies able to import.
The problems managing the supply side tend to be very predictable - they happen most years. So you constantly see problems but they are manageable.
The problems managing the demand side are unpredictable. For many years you'll be going along fine, but when you have a problem you tend to have a BIG problem.
Of the two, you're better having manageable problems most years and no big disasters than having things usually go smoothly but occasionally you get a disaster.