The relationship between socio-economic conditions and the stunting incidences of rural areas in Indonesia? Evidence in Tolitoli regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Problem of stunting and malnutrition in the centre of agricultural production is currently being debated. Tolitoli which is one of the central rice-producing regencies for Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, however in 2021 is reported as one of 320 regencies in Indonesia with a high prevalence of stunting. This research aims to examine the correlations between agricultural production of households in Tolitoli regency and the prevalence of family malnutrition and stunting. In June - October 2022 a case study survey was carried out in two sub-districts with the highest prevalence rate in Tolitoli Regency. The analytical method used includes the share of food expenditure and family food consumption to assess the condition of food security, quantity and quality of household food consumption. While the income analysis is used to measure the determinants of expenditure and household consumption in the research area. The results show that the condition of food security based on energy sufficiency in the research area was in the “less” category. The share of food expenditure is in the “high category” and the food security condition is in the food shortage condition. Moreover, most of the respondent’s income comes from agricultural activities (80.55%) which is allocated for food consumption of 55%/month and the remaining 45% per month is used for non-food expenses.