A sociological perspective on food security and food insecurity in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

Abstract

The province of West Nusa Tenggara (WNT) once made a history of rice self-sufficiency in Indonesia. In 1984 through the Gogo Rancah policy, WNT managed to get out of the food crisis to become self-sufficient in rice. This achievement caught the whole world’s attention because President Suharto specifically conveyed this success in a speech at the FAO Forum in Rome in 1984. Since then, the Province of West Nusa Tenggara has become a place of learning for many countries, especially in dryland agriculture with the gogo rancah system. This study aims to examine various approaches that have been taken by the government so that they have succeeded in increasing the production and productivity of farmers in WNT, especially for rice commodities. Furthermore, what factors influence that they are successful in their farming business. Another objective is to find out the relationship between food security policies and the occurrence of food insecurity in West Nusa Tenggara. The method applied to answer the problems and objectives of this research is the literature review method. The author collects articles from various relevant scientific journals and takes open data from the Central Statistics Agency. The conclusions of this study are as follows: first, various approaches that the government has taken in dealing with food security in West Nusa Tenggara have succeeded in increasing the production and productivity of rice farmers. Second, the factors that influence the success include the awareness and increasing knowledge of farmers and high participation in the application of the technology introduced. Third, the increase in rice production has not been successfully eliminating the problem of food insecurity in West Nusa Tenggara.