Regionalization of Agricultural Based Leading Sectors and Food Security in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world with total land area is around 190 million hectares (ha), of which about 28.94 percent or some 55 million ha are agricultural land. As the world’s fourth most populous country, Indonesia’s total population is estimated to increase from about 245 million in 2013 to 288 million in 2050. This study aims to analyze the leading sectors of each province in Indonesia by Location Quotient (LQ) method and distribution of food security level in every province in Indonesia based on rice production balance. This research uses Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Indonesia and Gross Domestic Regional Product of each of the provinces in all sectors during 2010-2014 obtained through the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics. The determination of the leading sectors of each province is based on the Location Quotient (LQ) which is the comparative method of the role of an economic sector in a province to the magnitude of the economic sector's role nationally. The food security index determined by the food security calculation that done by the ministry of Agriculture Indonesia especially the Food Security Agency of Indonesia based on the assumption of the resident who can fulfill more than 90 percent of Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is food secure category. Leading sectors in Indonesia is varies between one province to other province. Leading sectors obtained from Location Quotient (LQ) formula shows that although it is said to be an agrarian country, the LQ results indicate that not all provinces in Indonesia have the leading sector in agriculture. Leading sector in agricultural is only found in 20 provinces out of 33 provinces in Indonesia (exclude North Kalimantan). Most provinces with agricultural based have experienced economic structuring towards secondary and tertiary sectors. Provinces with the highest LQ scores in agriculture, forestry and fisheries are found only in North Sumatra, Lampung, West Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi. Provinces with LQ> 1 score for the agricultural sector indicate that the province has a high level of agricultural production so that it becomes a comparative advantage for regional development. Agriculture, forestry and fishery sector still dominates in some parts of Indonesia, especially Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and part of Kalimantan Island but not as major economic contributor. While most provinces in Java, Bali and Papua do not have an economic advantage in the agricultural sector. Food Security Index of Indonesia mainly classified as the moderate level except for North Maluku, Papua, and West Papua in low level and Bali and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) in high level. Factors influencing differences in food security are based on availibility and affordability factors. Availibilty factor reflects the resilience of an area in terms of food availability, while affordability factor reflects the ease of obtaining food.