Farmer’s Adaptation to Climate Change as Strategy to Achieve Food Security

Abstract

Climate change characterized by an increase in temperature and changes in rainfall impacts human life, one of which is food security. One of the keys to increasing food security during climate change is implementing adaptation. However, selection of appropriate adaptation strategies—i.e., better varieties, diversification of crops and shifting planting times—has positive impact on household food security. This study examines the effect of adaptation to climate change on rice farmer's household food security in the Banyumas Regency. Target populations are farmer households on fertile land (Sumbang Village and Banteran Village) and farmer households on infertile land (Lumbir Village and Cingebul Village). The selection of the targeted population is based on soil fertility, as it will affect the choice of adaptation strategies. Logit regression is employed to analyze the effect of adaptation options on household food security based on two aspects. Those are food availability and food access. Apart from being food producers, farmers are also consumers. The results show that the adaptation options—i.e., irrigation access, age, household size, farm income, income other than farming, asset ownership, and food expenditure—affect household food security in terms of food availability. On the other hand, the size of the household and income other than farms affect household food security in terms of food accessibility. The policy implication is that farmers pay more attention to climate change and implement appropriate adaptation strategies according to land conditions and farmers' resources.