Socioecological and Dietary Change from 2001 to 2015 in Rural West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

We assessed changes in the sociodemographic structure, land use, diet, and nutritional status of the population of a rural village in West Java, Indonesia between 2000–2001 and 2015–2017, a period of rapid socioeconomic change in the country. Over this period, the village’s population increased by 50%, largely comprised of individuals engaged in non-agricultural employment in the village or in nearby cities, and the village maintained its farming characteristics without major changes in the local land use or ecosystem. In 2000, the diet, nutritional intake, and health status of the villagers were generally uniform. Indicators based on BMI, for example, classified 98% of target children and 70% of target mothers as ‘normal’, regardless of household economic status. However, by 2015, more people worked outside the village and dependence on a market economy had increased. Dependence on food from outside the village, such as processed foods that are cheap and easy to obtain and store, had also increased. Foods such as cassava, taro, and sweet potatoes, which were grown and consumed in 2000, were not consumed in 2015. The quantities of beans, nuts, and vegetables consumed had also decreased. Additionally, the use and sharing of natural resources and the accompanying knowledge transfer had been gradually lost. As a result, variation in diet, nutritional intake, and health conditions within the village significantly increased over time, and overnutrition and undernutrition coexisted by 2015.