Online transportation relationship with the diversity of household food consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious problem in the world in the last two years, including in Indonesia. This problem causes the government to treat the Large-Scale Social Restriction Policy (PSBB), where the policy can have an impact on the difficulty of certain people in accessing food. The technology that can help people in accessing food is the presence of online transportation. This study aimed to analyze the use of online transportation for a household in accessing food during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze the relationship between the use of online transportation and the diversity of household food consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was designed by using combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. The research location is in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Data were collected from April to August 2021 by conducting survey methods and in-depth interviews. The unit of analysis is the household level. The number of samples is 200 households. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively as well as quantitatively using Spearman's rho correlation. The results showed that there were 49.5% of households used online transportation in accessing food during the pandemic. It was found that age, education level, and type of occupation of the household head and housewives, as well as the household income, are significantly related to the use of online transportation for accessing food. The reason most households use online transportation is that it is more practical and they do not need to leave the house to shop for food types of food that are commonly accessed by online transportation are very diverse, consisting of staple foods/substitutes for the main dishes, vegetables, fruits and snacks. The dominant foods that are accessed through online transportation are very diverse, including snacks, side dishes, vegetables, fruits, and substitutes for staple foods. Statistically, there is a significant and direct relationship between the use of online transportation and the diversity of household food consumption (r = 0.605 and Sig. (2- tails) = 0.000).