Food, Diversity, Vulnerability and Social Change: Research Findings from Insular Southeast Asia (Mansholt Publication Series)

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change Research findings from insular Southeast Asia

M a n sh o lt p u b l i c at i o n se r i e s - Vo l u m e 9

Anke Niehof

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change Research findings from insular Southeast Asia

Anke Niehof

Mansholt publication series - Volume 9

Wageningen Academic  P u b l i s h e r s

ISBN: 978-90-8686-139-2 e-ISBN: 978-90-8686-671-7 DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-671-7

ISSN: 1871-9309

Cover illustration: Hans Borkent

First published, 2010

©Wageningen Academic Publishers The Netherlands, 2010

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned. Nothing from this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a computerised system or published in any form or in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, reprographic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publisher: Wageningen Academic Publishers P.O. Box 220 6700 AE Wageningen the Netherlands www.WageningenAcademic.com This publication and any liabilities arising from it remains the responsibility of the author. The publisher is not responsible for possible damages, which could be a result of content derived from this publication.

Mansholt Publication Series The Mansholt Publication Series (MPS) contains peer-reviewed textbooks, conference proceedings and thematic publications focussing on social changes and control processes in rural areas and (agri)food chains as well as the institutional contexts in which these changes and processes take place. MPS provides a platform for researchers and educators who would like to increase the quality, status and international exposure of their teaching materials or of their research output. The Series is named after Sicco Mansholt (1908-1995), who was Minister of Agriculture in The Netherlands from 1945 until 1958. From 1958 until 1972 he was Commissioner of Agriculture and Vice-President of the European Commission. MPS is supported by the Mansholt Graduate School of Social Sciences (MG3S) and CERES Research School for Resource Studies for Development. The quality and contents of the Series is monitored by an interdisciplinary editorial board. The Mansholt Publication Series editors are: Prof. Wim Heijman Prof. Ekko van Ierland Prof. Leontien Visser Prof. Arjen E.J. Wals

Dedicated to my sister Linda

Preface and acknowledgement Indirectly this book serves as a tribute to the late Dr. Karel Neys1, who died in 1992, and bequeathed his estate to a foundation supporting research about household food security and family nutrition in Indonesia and beyond. Before he died, he had founded the Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation and had specified the foundation’s objectives and the required composition of its board. The author is a board member. Since its operational start in 1993 the Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation (henceforth NHF) has funded more than a hundred research projects in various Asian countries, though the focus is on Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia. The scholars who carried out the research have backgrounds varying from anthropology, agronomy, sociology and home economics, to plant and nutrition sciences. The research covers a broad range of topics with food and nutrition security as common denominators. The researchers have to submit to NHF progress reports and a final report. In some cases the research team of a particular project published their findings in a book or as an article in an academic journal. In those cases the research results can be accessed by a wider audience. However, though the NHF board encourages publication of NHF-funded research and makes money available for English editing, in most cases the research findings are only documented in the final project reports. The motivation for writing this book is to make the results of NHF-funded research accessible to a wider readership. The research topics all relate to the central NHF themes of how people provide for their food and nutrition needs, the constraints they face in trying to do so, and how their practices and strategies are part of diverse and changing ecological, cultural, and institutional contexts. These are urgent themes in countries where food and nutrition insecurity still affects large numbers of people. The regional focus of this book is insular Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines in particular, since these are the countries in which most of the NHF research projects were conducted. Whenever relevant and appropriate, findings from NHF research in other Asian countries will be included in the discussion. The References section lists publications on NHF-research as well as unpublished project reports that were used for the book.

1 Biographic information about Dr. Karel Neys can be found in the booklet by Dr. A.P. den Hartog “Dr. Karel

Neys 1920-1992 and the Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation” (The Hague, 2005), published by the foundation, which is available upon request.

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I gratefully acknowledge the support of Wageningen University and Research Centre in granting me sabbatical leave, which enabled me to concentrate on writing this book during the summer months of 2009. I would like to thank the School of Political & Social Enquiry of Monash University, Australia, where I spent the two months of my sabbatical, for the hospitality and collegiality I experienced there, and the facilities it made available. Furthermore, I would like to thank Jeff van Exel for the English editing of the text and the reviewers for their valuable suggestions. Finally, I would like to mention the researchers thanks to whose dedication and hard work this book could be put together. Anke Niehof Wageningen, November 2009

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Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change

Contents Preface and acknowledgement List of figures and tables

9 15

1. Thematic introduction: food as a basic need and beyond 1.1 The changing discourse on food security 1.2 Food and domestic production 1.3 Vulnerability, age and gender 1.4 Methodological issues in measuring food and nutrition security 1.5 Conclusion

21 22 23 26 28 32

2. Diversity of food systems and foods 2.1 Diversity of food systems 2.2 Diversity of foods 2.3 Conclusion

35 35 65 69

3. Vulnerability: age and gender 3.1 Age 3.2 Gender 3.3 Conclusion

71 71 79 92

4. Institutions, policies, programmes and social change 4.1 Institutions 4.2 Policies and programmes 4.3 Social change 4.4 Conclusion

95 95 100 106 110

5. Discussion 5.1 Reflecting on food and poverty linkages 5.2 Diversity, diversification and vulnerability 5.3 Methodological diversity and disciplinary interfaces on the subject

115 115 119 121

Glossary List of acronyms and abbreviations

127 129

References List of reviewed NHF-supported project reports Published sources and PhD theses

131 131 132

Keyword index

139

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List of figures and tables List of figures Map of Indonesia with research locations. Map of Philippines with research locations. 1.1. Interrelationships between food security, nutrition and care (Balatibat, 2004: 42; adapted from the UNICEF model). 1.2. Linkages between the household and the food chain (Niehof, 1998: 45). 2.1. Processed and non-processed Indonesian soybean products (Muchtadi, 2007: 5).

18 19 24 25 67

List of tables 2.1. Household food production activities according to ecological area (Balatibat, 2004: 76). 2.2. Utilization of harvest from food production according to ecological area (Balatibat, 2004: 77). 2.3. Prevalence of malnutrition among lowland and coastal children 6-36 months old (Balatibat, 2004: 86). 2.4. Agro-ecosystems in Alegre and Plaridel (Roa, 2007: 130-134). 2.5. Consumption of cereals, root crops, animal protein, soy bean products, vegetables and fruits of Subang households according to agroecological area (Suhanda et al., 2009: 66-72). 2.6. Economic status of rural and urban households in Javanese provinces (Muchtadi, 2007: 22-23). 2.7. Frequency of consumption by rural and urban households of the most popular soybean products according to household heads (Muchtadi, 2007: 53). 2.8. Nutritional status based on body mass index (BMI) of rural and urban teenagers, adults, and elderly (Muchtadi, 2007: 74-76). 2.9. Body weight for age, body height for age, and weight for height in categories based on z-scores (<-2, <-1, between -1 and + 1, >+1, >+2) of rural and urban children under five (Muchtadi, 2007: 72). 2.10. Weight for age, height for age, and weight for height z-score categories of rural and urban children of primary school age (Muchtadi, 2007: 73). 2.11. Sources of livelihood of Baduy husbands and wives in percentages (Khomsan et al., 2009: 74-75). 2.12. Reading and writing skills of Baduy husbands and wives in percentages (Khomsan et al., 2009: 72-73). 2.13. Monthly per capita expenditures in rupiah of the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 79-80).

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

37 37 38 40 42 44 45 46 47 48 54 54 55

15

2.14. Frequency of selected types of foods consumed per time unit (mean and standard deviation) for the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 108-110). 55 2.15. Percentage of Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) reached per nutrient of daily per capita food intake for the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 112, 115, 119). 57 2.16. Percentage of Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) reached per nutrient, percentage of RDA<70% of Baduy children under five, and percentage of RDA for boys and girls in Outer Baduy only (Khomsan et al., 2009: 115, 117, 120, 121). 58 2.17. Wild food resources available in the uplands (Tangonan et al., 2008: 43-44). 61 2.18. Food items produced according to site and season (Tangonan et al., 2008: 48-49). 62 2.19. Primary source of income of respondents in the three villages (Tangonan et al., 2008: 55). 63 2.20. Acceptance of tempe and tofu by different categories of respondents (Muchtadi, 2007: 29-40). 69 3.1. Distribution according to body mass index (BMI) categories of men and women from poor and non-poor households in Bogor and Indramayu (%) (Riyadi et al., 2006: 35-36). 82 3.2. Time expenditure (N hours) of men and women in hours (6 a.m. until 8 p.m.) in lowland and coastal villages in the Philippines (Balatibat 2004: 151). 84 3.3. Reported strategies to meet food needs in Pasean, Madura, 2004 (author’s unpublished data, Pasean household survey, 2004). 90 3.4. Reported strategies to meet food needs in Central Java and East Nusa Tenggara (Dwiyanto et al. (n.d.), data collected in 2004). 91 4.1. Weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores of children under five according to posyandu attendance of the mother (Khomsan et al., 2007: 50, 54, 58). 104 5.1. Percentages of poor households in two types of areas in Subang, West Java when applying different poverty standards (Suhanda et al., 2009: 112). 118

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Jakarta

Java Bogor

Bandung Surabaya Yogyakarta

Research location Map of Indonesia with research locations.

La Trinidad

Manila

Research location

Map of Philippines with research locations.

1. Thematic introduction: food as a basic need and beyond Food is a universal basic need unfortunately not met for large numbers of people in this world. For this reason, substantially reducing food insecurity was framed as one of the millennium development goals. While this book presents evidence for the various ways in which people, particularly in insular Southeast Asia, try to provide food for themselves and their families, food is more than a basic need and represents more than nutritional value. It is also a cultural category; ways of preparing food represent cultural knowledge, food consumption follows certain rules and notions about what to eat or not and by whom (food taboos), and culture specifies times and occasions that require specific foods to eat or to abstain from. As Manderson (1986: 1) says, ‘because of its essentiality, food largely features as the matter and symbol of social life, as a means by which people communicate with each other, and as an embodiment of the communication itself.’ Universally, food is used to signify bonds between people; sharing a meal denotes a social relationship. An example of this in the Southeast Asian context is the Javanese slametan, the joint ritual meal meant to enhance well-being1. For a life-cycle slametan – on the occasion of a birth or a death, circumcision, marriage, or moving house – family and neighbours are invited to witness the rite of passage of the person for whom it is held. A slametan may also be organized at the beginning of the rice-planting or fishing season or to restore well-being and harmony in a community stricken by dissent or disaster. The slametan is religiously inspired but transcends religious differences. As Beatty (1996: 286) noted: ‘As a ritual frame adaptable to diverse faiths and ideologies it remains at the heart of Javanese religion […] it shows how […] people can come to terms with their differences.’ So, while food indeed is a universal basic need, the ways in which people procure, prepare, distribute, and consume different types of food at different times and occasions, are embedded in specific local ecological and cultural environments. Through food social cohesion is strengthened and meanings are communicated, making food a social metaphor in the Durkheimian sense. In this chapter I shall introduce the multiple dimensions of food and nutrition security to be highlighted in the empirical evidence reviewed in the following chapters. To this end, I shall discuss and define the relevant concepts. After a brief review of the discourse on the concept of food security, I shall present the conceptual framework of food security that will structure the review of the empirical data. The next section will discuss the concepts relevant to understanding the domestic production of food and nutrition security, relating the food system to the household. Subsequently, age and gender will be discussed as differentiating factors in relation to food production and consumption. The concept of vulnerability will be paid attention to because of its bearing on all links in the food chain and because of its specificity to age and gender. Finally this chapter will address the issue of measuring levels of food and nutrition security. 1 The word slametan is derived from the word slamet which means being well, safe, blessed or prosperous.

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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1.1 The changing discourse on food security Since the concept of food security was coined at the World Food Conference in 1974, it has been viewed and defined in several ways. Initially, the conceptualization of food security was very much supply oriented. Solutions to end famine were sought in increasing food supplies by improving agricultural production. Food security also tended to be assessed and measured at regional and national levels. However, over the past two decades, especially since the seminal work of Amartya Sen (1981), food security came to be seen in terms of access to food as mediated by entitlements. The level of observation has also changed. Instead of looking only at national or regional food supplies, much research on food security at present emphasizes households’ access to food, though not without regard for the ecological and institutional environment of which households are part. Research has shown that households’ entitlements that enable them to produce food and purchasing power that buys them food are unevenly distributed. Even in a food secure area and at harvesting time, there may be households that go hungry (cf. Omosa, 1998). Looking back on the rice policies during the Orde Baru (1966-1998) in Indonesia, Simatupang (2007) rightly notes that they were very much part of the pre-Sen food security paradigm that emphasized food production and supply, with little attention to food distribution, the importance of people’s purchasing power for access to food, and micro-macro linkages. This book uses the most common definition of food security: access to enough food by all people at all times for an active and healthy life (Maxwell, 2001). The word ‘access’ refers to the ways of procuring food, whether by own production, by purchase and borrowing, by exchange or receiving food gifts. Access can be more or less problematic. The phrase ‘all people’ refers to the equity principle and relates to the key issues of food distribution and entitlements of households that enable them to access food, which to a large extent depends on their livelihood status (see below). This phrase is also a reminder of prevailing gender inequities that affect the distribution of food within households (cf. Ali, 2005). The phrase ‘at all times’ refers to seasonality and the effects of stressful events or conditions, for example the monetary crisis in Indonesia (krismon) that began in the second half of the 1990s. The phrase ‘an active and healthy life’ refers to the composition and nutritional value of the daily menu. Since the concept of livelihood gained prominence, the livelihood approach is increasingly applied to address the relationship between poverty and food security (cf. Balatibat, 2004; Roa, 2007). As Roa (2007: 91) observes, livelihood failure makes households vulnerable to serious shortfalls in income and food, resulting in ill health and nutritional inadequacy. That makes food security a subset of livelihood security. Nutrition security, the secure access to food that contains the nutrients needed for an active and healthy life, can be seen as a component of food security. It should be noted, however, that livelihood security does not translate directly into food security (Balatibat, 2004) and food security at household level does not guarantee adequate nutritional status of all household members (Ali, 2005). 22 

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In the studies reviewed in the following chapters, the linkages between livelihood, food security and nutrition are elaborated in various ways and the respective subsets are differently emphasized. 1.2 Food and domestic production In this book we focus on food security at household level, borrowing Rudie’s (1995: 228) definition of household: ‘A co-residential unit, usually family-based in some way, which takes care of resource management and primary needs of its members.’ The aspect of co-residence can be somewhat loosely interpreted as living close by, though not necessarily physically under one roof. However, for a group to be able to assume joint responsibility for providing for its members’ primary needs on a more or less daily basis, a certain degree of proximity is required. Domestic production is the process whereby a household uses and organizes inputs and resources for sustenance and well-being of its members. In relation to food this includes not only sufficient provision of adequate food, but – especially for children – also of care, so that food can be properly consumed and utilized (Figure 1.1). The figure shows that a child’s satisfactory nutritional status requires not only a sufficient level of food security, but also proper care and a healthy environment. Figure 1.2 focuses on the linkages between households and the food chain. It places the farming household in the centre. The left-hand side of the figure pictures the use of resources for production of food crops. The results of agricultural production enter the farming household in the form of food for own consumption and/or as commodities or money received in exchange for agricultural produce. These commodities and/or money can be used to procure food on the market. The right-hand side of the figure emphasizes the processes of domestic production after food procurement and before the food can be consumed, and contribute to the nutritional status of individual household members. These processes also require inputs and resources. In the case of smallholder farming the resources needed for agricultural production are not set apart from those needed for domestic production. They are used interchangeably. The gendered division of labour tends to shift when moving from the left-hand side of the figure, where men mostly play an important role in agricultural production, to the right-hand side, where women dominate the domestic production of food for consumption (Niehof, 2003). The figure also applies to non-farming households, but in that case there is no own agricultural production and food enters the household only through purchase, exchange, as food gift, or as food gathered in the wild. However, non-farming households may have their kitchen or backyard garden where they grow food crops for their own consumption, whereas farming households are never wholly self-reliant with regard to food. Food availability at household level is not the only determinant of food and nutrition security. Factors like education, sanitation, access to safe water, accessibility and quality of health services, cultural beliefs and lifestyle all play a role in the way food availability translates into food security and health. Sanitation and access to safe water are important Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

23

1. Thematic introduction

Child nutritional status

Child’s dietary intake

Household food security

Child’s health status

Care for mothers and children

Immediate determinants

Health and environmental services

Resources for food security

Resources for care

Resources for health

• food production • cash income • transfer of food in-kind

• caregiver control of resources and autonomy • caregiver physical and mental status • caregiver knowledge and beliefs

• safe water supply • adequate sanitation • health care availability • environmental safety/shelter

Underlying determinants

Poverty Political and economic structure Socio-cultural environment Potential resources: environment, technology, people

Basic determinants

Figure 1.1. Interrelationships between food security, nutrition and care (Balatibat, 2004: 42; adapted from the UNICEF model).

in reducing the exposure to pathogens that cause infection and may hamper the absorption of nutrients by the body. With regard to education it is especially the mother’s education that is a determining factor in the nutritional status of children. Dasgupta et al. (2008), for example, found maternal education to be strongly related to the positive changes in anthropometric traits that reflect nutritional status among school boys in Calcutta, India between 1982 and 2002.

24 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



1. Thematic introduction

Environment Production of food crops

Sell/exchange Cash income/commodities Food For own consumption Environment

Family-based Resources

Availability and access

Farm-ing Household-ing Food-sharing unit

Availability and access

Resources

Preparation Distribution Consumption

Buying Processing Storage of food Environment: natural economic social political cultural

Household food security Nutritional status of members food-sharing unit

Figure 1.2. Linkages between the household and the food chain (Niehof, 1998: 45).

Households facing food deficits have to design strategies to overcome their problems. We consider the capability of households to develop such strategies to be an ‘emergent property’ of households (Pennartz and Niehof, 1999: 47; Wallace, 2002). The concept of strategy implies conscious choices to take action now in order to achieve a desired outcome in the future. Strategies are contextual, meaning that the choices households make depend on the options available in the institutional setting and on the social and cultural acceptability and appropriateness of these options. This explains why there is a diversity of strategies that households opt for, depending on cultural context, location and circumstances. It also implies that households have agency, to the extent that they use past experience and knowledge of the environment to decide on a course of action and take it. There is always a trade-off between the joint interests and a shared sense of the common good among the members of a household on the one hand, and their individual needs and preferences on the other. If the balance tips too much to either side, a household may fall apart or individual members may leave it. When a household lacks the resources to sustain it as a whole, it may split up in smaller units. In this way, there are dynamic interrelationships between household size and composition on the one hand, and the ability to satisfy the food needs of its members on the other. By anchoring food security at the level of the household and connecting it to household livelihood systems, the universality of food as a basic need is reconciled with the local and the particularistic. In this way, food needs and the ways these are met and satisfied, are placed in a cultural and ‘lifeworld’ context (Gough, 2004). This is not to say that households are closed Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

25

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and unchangeable units. Household boundaries are always permeable and shifting – people join or leave households, temporarily or permanently – and a household’s composition changes with its stage in the life course (Pennartz and Niehof, 1999), with concomitant changes in food requirements and availability of resources. The boundaries of the food unit comprised by the household may not always coincide with the household’s boundaries; it may be larger or smaller than the household (Rudie, 1995). Households are also embedded in institutional structures, connected to markets, and affected by social change, globalization, national policies, and international crises. One could start at either end of the local-nationalglobal or micro-macro continuum, but in this book we start from the local. In the words of Pinstrup-Andersen (2000) food security is ‘unfinished business’, as indeed it is. The large number of thorough studies on food insecurity and failing food policies produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC and others prove the point. For well-informed and effective food policy making the extent to which and the reasons why people, communities and countries remain food insecure and the implications of this for the everyday life of the people affected, need to be investigated. Valuable though these studies may be, this book does not review the work on the subject by IFPRI and the other players in the field and does not attempt to construct a global overview of food security problems, though it refers to these studies where relevant and appropriate. Instead, the core of the book is formed by the results of the research projects funded by the Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation. For this reason the book departs from the local and the specific, the level at which most of the research projects reviewed in the following chapters are positioned. However, from there the perspective will be enlarged by comparison and identifying patterns across different local contexts. Institutional and macro-level policy issues will be reflected on at the end of the book. 1.3 Vulnerability, age and gender Vulnerability is an important concept in livelihood and food insecurity research. The concept gained prominence in livelihood research. Chambers (1990) was the first scholar to distinguish between an external side of livelihood vulnerability in the form of risks, shocks, and stress to which individuals or households are exposed, and an internal side that refers to the ability to cope without irreversible loss of capabilities and assets. Households with vulnerable livelihoods will have problems providing for the food needs of their members in a sustainable manner. Households with sustainable livelihoods will – at the end of the day – be food secure. Thus, the ‘insecure-secure’ continuum of household food security parallels the ‘vulnerable-sustainable’ continuum that indicates the quality of the livelihood systems of households (Niehof, 2004). Accordingly, factors that increase households’ external livelihood vulnerability will negatively affect their food-security status. Such factors may comprise unfavourable ecological conditions, weak institutional structures, political instability, gender and class inequality, and so on (cf. Brons et al., 2007). The impact of the economic crisis that hit Indonesia in 1997, for example, required households to adapt their 26 

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food security strategies (Usfar, 2002; Mardiharini, 2005). Internal vulnerability affecting household food security is contingent upon a household’s composition (proportion of dependants), its physical resource base, and the quality of its social, cultural and human capital. When household-level food security is further narrowed down to individual nutrition security, the biological characteristics of individual household members begin to play a role, which is why age and sex are crucial differentiating variables in food and nutrition research. I will refer to this aspect of vulnerability as intrinsic vulnerability. The relationship between age and intrinsic vulnerability follows a universal pattern linked to the life course of individuals. Infants, young children and elder persons are most vulnerable. Infants and young children have specific food and nutritional needs that should be attended to. This is reflected in the literature and in the research reviewed in this book. With regard to infants, important issues are that of the duration and exclusiveness of breastfeeding and the timing of complementary feeding and weaning. First, the World Health Organization recommended exclusive breastfeeding to be given to infants up to four to six months old. The optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding became the subject of a longstanding debate until the WHO set it at six months, following the results of a systematic review of two controlled trials and 17 observational studies about the effects of infant feeding methods on child health, growth, and development and on maternal health (WHO, 2001). The feasibility of complying with the WHO recommendation for working mothers is addressed by one of the reviewed studies (Wibowo et al., 2008). The vulnerability of the elderly has to be seen in the context of the process of population ageing going on in large parts of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Ageing is the demographic phenomenon of an increasing proportion of elderly (aged 65+, or 60+ as is more appropriate for the Southeast Asian context) relative to the declining proportions of the population under 15 and the (presumably) economically productive part of the population (aged 1565 or 15-60). Population ageing as a phase in the process of demographic transition, sets in after a period of consistent and durable fertility decline, which was the case in Indonesia. While elder persons may suffer from chronic afflictions and may have specific dietary needs (intrinsic vulnerability), in countries like Indonesia their quality of life is also affected by the lack of support structures and institutions in the external vulnerability context. Furthermore they may need help in looking after themselves and performing what the literature on ageing refers to as the instrumental activities of daily living, including food provision and preparation. Not having somebody around to help, adds to old people’s vulnerability. Though filial duty and family solidarity have always been core Asian values, in a modernizing Southeast Asia it becomes increasingly difficult to put them into practice. A contributor to a recent book on ageing in Southeast Asia comments on this issue as follows: ‘With rising numbers of old people, along with modernization – urbanization, migration, higher labour force participation of women who are the traditional caregivers and reduced fertility resulting in fewer members of one’s kin network – the question of who will provide support for the elderly is now an issue of very timely concern’ (Natividad, 2008: 162). The Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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book by Keasberry (2002) is one of the studies reviewed. It addresses the issue of care for the elderly in modernizing rural Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Intrinsic vulnerability of women relates to their biological function of childbearing. Pregnant women and young mothers are intrinsically vulnerable and have specific food and nutritional needs. This theme will appear in several of the studies reviewed (e.g. Muslimatun, 2001; Schmidt, 2001). However, this aside, food and nutrition are gendered. By this I mean that cultural and social definitions of the female sex, influence women’s access to adequate food and nutrition and that women’s reproductive role universally makes them responsible for feeding their families (Niehof, 2003). Depending on the way it works out in specific local contexts, prevailing gender ideologies and women’s institutionally grounded discrimination in the external vulnerability context, women’s lack of access to the productive resources they need to fulfil their gender roles, lack of information and gender-biased practices of intrahousehold food distribution, may all contribute to their vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity. Several of the studies reviewed address these issues more or less extensively in one form or another (Balatibat, 2004; Gayao et al., 2004; Khomsan et al., 2005; Roa, 2007; Sunarti, 2008; Zein, 2007). However, women are not just vulnerable. They can exercise agency. Prevailing gender ideologies may limit their access to resources and maneuvering space, but – at the same time – provide role models and guidelines for behaviour that enable them to take control and acquire authority. This applies especially to the domestic domain and the provision of food and care, because responsibility and action in those fields are part of women’s reproductive role (Niehof, 2003). In Indonesia, women’s culturally prescribed mother (ibu) role has allowed them to extend acting as ibu also beyond the parent-child relationship and the domestic domain. Although ibu is translated as ‘mother’, it is a general and respectful term of address for adult women, including those who do not have children or are not even married. The phenomenon whereby it is culturally and socially accepted for women to use the ibu-role to make decisions and claim authority and control also in matters beyond the domestic context is referred to as ibuism. According to the author who coined the term (Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuis, 1987) for Javanese women in particular ibuism has been and still is ‘a path to power’. A comparable phenomenon is not observed in the Philippines, where the mother role is very important but only within the confines of the domestic context and the parent-child relationship. 1.4 Methodological issues in measuring food and nutrition security 1.4.1 Food security indicators For various reasons, measuring food security is not easy. The first reason is that in regular surveys only a sole assessment is done at one specific time, while the degree of a household’s food security will fluctuate, in the case of rural and farming households at least seasonally, but 28 

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also in response to changes in the external vulnerability context and to specific circumstances in the household concerned. Furthermore, chronic food insecurity is a condition resulting from a cumulative process. A one-time sounding makes it difficult to determine where the household is heading and whether the assessment at the time of the survey accurately represents the household’s food security status at other times. Apart from the timing problem there is the issue of selecting the kind of questions to ask that will most reliably elicit valid information about the household’s food security status. USAID developed a Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) to measure food access (Coates et al., 2006). The basic questions composing the scale are: • Did you worry that your household would not have enough food? • Were you or any household member not able to eat the kinds of foods you preferred because of lack of resources? • Did you or any household member eat just a few kinds of food day after day due to a lack of resources? • Did you or any household member eat food that you preferred not to eat because of lack of resources to obtain other kinds of food? • Did you or any household member eat a smaller meal than you felt you needed because there was not enough food? • Did you or any other household member eat fewer meals in a day because there was not enough food? • Was there ever no food at all in your household because there were not resources to get more? • Did you or any household member go to sleep hungry at night because there was not enough food? • Did you or any household member go a whole day without eating anything because there was not enough food? For each of these questions a reference period of 30 days should be applied. Additionally, the frequency of the experience is asked for: did it happen never, rarely (once or twice), sometimes (3-10 times), or often (more than 10 times) during the reference period (Coates et al., 2006: 5). The questions can be refined or adapted for further probing, but basically they address the household’s capability of accessing sufficient food in terms of quantity and adequate food in terms of food preferences, and the standard daily menu. The points these questions address can be found in many questionnaires used in food security research, though their wording and emphasis may differ. Often, the same set of questions is asked for the current period and for the alternative season, to account for seasonal variation. In my own field work in a Madurese fishing village in Indonesia, carried out in 2004, I found that households were significantly less food secure during the period of the west monsoon

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1. Thematic introduction

( January-March), when the fishing boats cannot sail because of strong winds and high seas, than at the time the interview were conducted ( July)2. To assess household food security status there are other sets of questions, for example the US HFSSM questionnaire developed by the US Department of Agriculture (Bickel et al., 2000). The study by Rosalina et al. (2007) discussed below, and also the study by Usfar et al. (2007), used the questionnaire to assess household food security status and compare these assessments with food intake of mothers. They modified some of the questions to make them more appropriate for use in the research area (West Lombok, Indonesia). For example, in the question whether the respondent was worried about running out of money for buying more food, they replaced the word ‘food’ by ‘rice’ (Rosalina et al., 2007: 139). The US HFSSM questionnaire and similar questionnaires such as HSIAS (see above) do not yield objective, standardized assessments of food security status, because they ask for people’s subjective assessment of their situation regarding aspects of food security. This is not a problem as subjective assessments are relevant to understand the rationale that underlies people’s strategic action. However, the point should be kept in mind. The answers to food security questions in a survey do not only have a subjective element, they also may be less truthful. While I do not wish to imply that many respondents will deliberately lie about such matters, food security can be a sensitive issue. When it is, it may affect the respondents’ answers. In a research project carried out in Tanzania in a context of high prevalence of HIV and AIDS the researcher was prepared for the difficulties of asking questions relating to the HIV-status of household members, since HIV and AIDS are topics surrounded by secrecy and stigma. However, she discovered that the subject of food security proved to be sensitive as well. While – as she eventually found out during her stay in the village – many households were food insecure, respondents in the survey were too embarrassed to admit that they regularly did not have enough to eat, and gave evasive or untruthful answers (Nombo, 2007). I did not encounter this phenomenon in the reports of the studies reviewed for this book, which is not to say that it does not exist. If the only contact with the respondent is through the survey and is not followed up by qualitative research, systematic biases in answers may go undetected. 1.4.2 Measuring food intake Another way to assess food security status is to measure actual food intake of individual household members during the previous 24 hours, to see whether the food consumed translates into the required level of calories and nutrients (recommended dietary allowances, RDA). The money needed to buy the food consumed indicates the level of food expenditures. Actual food intake and the monetary value it represents can thus serve as powerful indicators 2 These findings are not yet published, but other information about the fishing village and the livelihoods of its

households can be found in Niehof et al., 2005.

30 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



1. Thematic introduction

of household food-security status. The data on actual food intake may be compared with the (subjective) answers to survey questions about food security status of the household. Food intake is measured by 24-hour food-recalls. To enhance reliability of the results, the procedure is best repeated on a different day of the week. Using 24-hour food-recalls, the study of Rosalina et al. (2007) undertaken in rural West Lombok measured food actually eaten (food expenditure equivalency, FEE) with food bought and consumed (real food expenditure, RFE). FEE was included ‘because in rural areas people might obtain food from relatives or neighbours as well as from their own cultivated land’ (Rosalina et al., 2007: 137). Mothers were asked about their food intake as representatives of their households. Measuring food intake of all household members would be too complex and taking the father as a representative might introduce a positive bias. Both measures – FEE and RFE – were used to calculate the food-poverty line. The resulting food-poverty line was compared to the assessment of food security status done by using the US HFSSM questionnaire. Although there proved to be substantial overlap between the food security status of households and the position of mothers at the food-poverty line, the boundaries of the categories did not totally coincide. 79% of the mothers proved to reside in food insecure households (Rosalina et al., 2007: 143). The West Lombok study is a fine example of dealing with the methodological complexities in relating poverty to food security and nutrition. Investigating these linkages is also the subject of a study carried out in West Java (Suhanda et al., 2009). 1.4.3 Measuring malnutrition Food and nutrition insecurity affect a person’s physical condition and become visible in body characteristics that can be measured. The most basic anthropometric measurements in this respect are those relating to weight and height. Anthropometric measurements are not invasive and relatively simple to conduct. For reliable results it is of utmost importance to conduct regular calibration of the instruments and standardize procedures between the interviewers (Den Hartog et al., 2006). For research on malnutrition of young children, weight and height are related to one another and to the age of the child in months. Cut-off points are expressed in Z-scores. Children are called underweight, stunted or wasted, respectively, if their weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ), their height-for-age Z-score (HAZ), or their weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) is less than minus two (<-2). Balatibat (2004: 88) used these scores to compare the nutritional condition of children 0-36 months old in a lowland rice-growing area and in a coastal area in the Philippines. In the coastal area the percentages of underweight and wasted children were significantly higher than in the lowland area. The three indicators of nutrition insecurity have a slightly different meaning with regard to the relationship between the time of measurement and the timing and duration of the phenomenon measured. As Balatibat (2004: 90) remarks: ‘Underweight is an overall indicator of poor growth, which Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

31

1. Thematic introduction

does not indicate whether the child is still undernourished at the time of measurement; neither does it indicate the duration of undernourishment. Wasting is the indicator of current undernutrition, while stunting illustrates the continual exposure to too little food for the requirements.’ Another way to assess weight in relation to height is computing the body mass index (BMI), i.e. weight in kilogrammes is divided by the square of height in metres. Following a WHO recommendation the following classification is commonly used: underweight BMI < 18.5; normal range 18.5-24.9; overweight > 25 (cf. Den Hartog et al., 2006: 122). The midupper arm circumference (MUAC) is another anthropometric measurement. Den Hartog et al. (2006: 123) comment on this measurement as follows: ‘MUAC […] has been used as a proxy for low weight-for-height, or wasting. A comparison of the indicators shows a low correlation, however, but MUAC appears to be the superior predictor of childhood mortality in community-based studies.’ 1.5 Conclusion As this introduction shows, food and nutrition security are multi-facetted phenomena that together represent the whole food chain from food production by farming households to food intake by individuals. To unravel the complexities involved, in the following chapters the different parts of the chain and factors impacting on them will be addressed separately and in more detail, though without losing sight of their interconnectedness. Depending on the topic, the theory and concepts used are derived from the disciplinary fields represented by the researchers involved in the studies reviewed. When looking again at Figure 1.2, one might say that agricultural and social scientists are particularly represented in research relating to the left and central parts of the figure, while the nutrition scientists have their niche in the lower right side of the figure. While acknowledging the disciplinary differences, this book is not structured along disciplinary but on thematic lines. To gain understanding of how people cope with food and nutrition insecurity and why some people go hungry while others do not, multi-disciplinary data collection is required. However, to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the issues involved, a meta-level synthesis of the research results is essential. That is what this book aims to do. The household is the central level of analysis throughout the book, which includes the acknowledgement of inter-household and intra-household relationships as well as the embeddedness of households in larger institutional structures. Though the concept of household has been contested, especially by feminist scholars, there are several reasons for giving it an important place in this book. The first one is that it is part of the criteria of the Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation for determining eligibility of research proposals, which should revolve around household food security and family nutrition. Hence, this is reflected in the studies reviewed. The reason why the concept of household features in the objectives and funding criteria of a foundation for research on food and nutrition, has to do with the 32 

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1. Thematic introduction

fact that food represents a need that has to be met on a daily basis. Food provision plays a crucial role in the ‘arena of everyday life’, as the household was once aptly referred to (Clay and Schwartzweller, 1991). The entitlements and resources people need for achieving food and nutrition security for themselves and their dependants and the strategies they use to accomplish this, can only be identified at the household level. To conclude, I would like to quote Kabeer (1994: 114) on the rationale for retaining the concept of household: ‘The empirical significance of household relationships in the daily management of resource entitlements, and as the routine context of people’s lives, suggests that it has a certain facticity, despite its shifting guises.’

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

33

2. Diversity of food systems and foods In a provocative article, Lang (2005: 733) poses the question whether nutrition depends on the environment. Lang’s answer is an unequivocal ‘yes’. He calls environment ‘nutrition’s invisible infrastructure, everywhere but nowhere’. This environmental infrastructure is also human; it is shaped by the ways people use the natural resources in their environment to meet food needs and by the decisions they take about what to cultivate, what to grow for own consumption and what for the market, and so on. This chapter highlights the diversity in food systems, foods, and nutrition in relation to their ecological and human environments as found in Indonesia and the Philippines and documented by the studies reviewed. It emphasizes diversity of food systems and foods in a qualitative sense, not so much in the sense of quantitative statistical differences. The first part of the chapter presents findings relating to different food systems in different types of areas and ecosystems, and in specific cultural communities. The findings include information on people’s nutritional status resulting from those food systems. The second part of the chapter pays attention to specific foods, notably soybean and wild foods. 2.1 Diversity of food systems Food systems include ways of procuring food, such as cultivation of crops, hunting and fishing, gathering wild foods, exchanging, buying and borrowing foods, as well as the processing, preparing and consumption of foods (Figure 1.2). Food systems relate to livelihood systems and are part of certain ecological and cultural environments. In a large research project (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.) food systems were compared for rural and urban areas in three Indonesian provinces: Central Java, South Kalimantan and East Nusa Tenggara. The results show how the parameters of ecology, culture, and livelihood portfolios cause variation in dependence on self-produced versus purchased foods, proportion of non-rice staple foods, and in menus and ways of preparing foods. The report notes, for example, that the traditional daily menu in the research site in rural East Nusa Tenggara does not have side dishes. Instead, rice, maize, vegetables and fish are cooked together as porridge (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 85). In the following part of this section several studies are reviewed that highlight the diversity of food and livelihood systems in different kinds of environments. The studies of Balatibat (2004) and Roa (2007) were carried out in different parts of the Philippines (provinces of Laguna and Leyte) and in different villages, characterized by different types of ecological environments: coastal, lowland, alluvial plains, and hilly land near the coast. These studies will also feature in the following chapters, but here they are meant to elucidate the linkages between environment, food and livelihood. The study subsequently discussed in this section contrasts a rice-growing area with an area where horticulture is predominant, both in Subang, West Java, Indonesia. It investigates the links between agro-ecological area and Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

35

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

food consumption (Suhanda et al., 2009). The section continues with comparing food consumption and nutritional status for rural and urban environments, mainly based on the findings by Muchtadi (2007). It ends with a discussion of food systems, culture and environment in specific communities, namely the Mentawai (Rudito et al., 2002) and the Baduy (Khomsan et al., 2009) in Indonesia and villages in the Tarlac uplands in Central Luzon, the Philippines (Tangonan, 2008). 2.1.1 Diverse livelihoods and food systems The Balatibat study The study of Balatibat (2004) compares the livelihoods, food systems and nutritional status of two groups of households in the Philippines. The first comprises a sample of households (n=180) in two lowland villages in Laguna province, approximately 90 kilometres south of Manila. The second group constitutes a sample of households (n=219) in two coastal villages in Albuera, a municipality in the province of Leyte, about 13 kilometres from Ormoc City, the provincial capital. The coastal households are slightly smaller than the lowland ones. The educational level of husbands and wives in the coastal villages is lower than in the lowland ones. Almost all lowland households (96.6%) have access to electricity, versus only 39.7% of coastal households. Among the latter the quality of housing is much poorer than of lowland households. Almost every lowland household (97.8%) has its own well, versus 74.4% of coastal households, though 15% do have access to piped water. 28% of coastal households have no toilet at all, versus 10% of lowland households. In both groups the majority of households have a water-sealed toilet, 69.9 and 82.2% respectively (Balatibat, 2004: 69-75). Regarding livelihood activities and food production the following picture emerges. Lowland husbands mainly do paid work in the non-farming sector (63.3%), while 18.9% work as agricultural labourers. Some are factory workers or employees. The lowland wives who work outside the home (34.3%) are mainly engaged in small business or petty trade (70.2%). In the coastal households 43.4% of husbands work as fishermen, while 18.7% are labourers in the fishing industry. Among the coastal husbands 15% are wage workers in non-agricultural sectors, while there are 19 farmers (8.7%) and 14 agricultural labourers (6.4%). Others work are employees or factory workers. The coastal wives who have paid work (11.8%) are mainly self-employed (71.4%), like their lowland counterparts. Although a large income range could be observed, the median per capita monthly incomes of 55.0% of lowland households and 50.5% of coastal households were below the regional reference thresholds (Balatibat, 2004: 71-72). Table 2.1 and 2.2 present the households’ food production activities and the ways of utilization of food harvests. Coastal households are more engaged in various kinds of food production activities than lowland households, except for the cultivation of cash crops. In combination with the fact that almost two thirds of lowland husbands are wage workers in non-agricultural sectors, this 36 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.1. Household food production activities according to ecological area (Balatibat, 2004: 76).

Food production activities

Lowland (n=180)

Coastal (n=219)

N

%

N

%

68 63 (23) (38) (2) 74 32

37.8 35.0 (36.5) (60.3) (3.2) 41.1 17.8

72 74 (51) (17) (6) 144 168

32.9 33.9 (68.9) (23.0) (8.1) 65.8 76.7

Producing food in backyard gardens Producing crops, viz: Staple and root crops Cash/commercial crops1 Mixed Raising animals for food Fishing 1 Such as coffee, coconut, watermelon.

Table 2.2. Utilization of harvest from food production according to ecological area (Balatibat, 2004: 77).

Food types produced

Lowland households (n=180)

Coastal households (n=219)

Consumed

Sold

Consumed and sold

Consumed

Sold

N

N

N

N

N

Backyard crops 67 Farm crops 59 Animal husbandry Poultry 38 Swine 9 Fish1 31

% 98.5 93.7 79.2 30.0 96.9

1 1 18 1

%

%

%

Consumed and sold %

N

%

1.5 -

4

6.3

69 51

95.8 68.9

2 5

2.8 6.8

1 18

1.4 24.3

2.1 60.0 3.1

1 1 -

2.1 3.3 -

101 21 14

84.2 39.6 8.3

8 29 1

6.7 54.4 0.6

4 3 153

3.3 5.7 91.2

1 In the form of catches or shares.

seems to indicate a greater dependence on cash for food procurement in lowland households as compared to coastal ones. In both areas backyard gardens are a fairly important source of food for own consumption. Farm crops, though more important for lowland than for coastal households, are mostly for own consumption, with relatively more coastal households selling Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

37

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

part of the produce. Given the high proportion of coastal households engaged in fishing, the importance of fish for these households is as expected. The fish from own catches or obtained as a share in return for labour, is both used for own consumption and sold for cash. Only in animal husbandry, notably in raising swine, the produce is sold for cash rather than used for own consumption. Most households in both areas – 99.4% of lowland and 94.1% of coastal households – were able to store staple foods. In coastal households the staple is rice, while in lowland households it is rice mixed with maize or just maize. In spite of the ability to store staple foods (albeit not for no longer than one month), 50.6% of lowland and 45.7% of coastal households referred to themselves as food-insecure. This included households with an income above the poverty threshold. For the households reporting food shortages, the associations with number of dependants, level of the mother’s education, and ownership of assets were statistically significant (Balatibat, 2004: 80-81). Table 2.3 compares the prevalence of malnutrition among children aged 6-36 months between the lowland coastal households. In spite of the fact that lowland households report more food shortages than coastal ones, their children aged 6 to 36 months have a better nutritional status. This shows that the links between household food security and individual nutritional status of household members are not straightforward. In subjecting determinants of child malnutrition to a statistical analysis, the factor of household income proved to be significant only for the coastal households. Comparing children suffering from wasting showed that apart from household income, the factors of the mother’s age and number of dependants in the household proved to be significant for coastal children, but for lowland children no significant factors were found. So, only for coastal households did there seem to be an association between food insecurity and wasting. Given that stunting and wasting reflect the food intake over a longer period, the nutritional status of young coastal children is more problematic than that of the lowland children. Additionally, Balatibat notes that coastal households are far from homogeneous and that a higher percentage of those households are found at either extreme of the ultraTable 2.3. Prevalence of malnutrition among lowland and coastal children 6-36 months old (Balatibat, 2004: 86).

Type of malnutrition

Underweight Stunted Wasted

38 

Lowland (n=141)

Coastal (n=165)

N

%

N

%

38 28 10

26.9 19.9 7.1

67 45 20

40.6 27.3 12.1

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

poor and better-off continuum than among the lowland households (Balatibat, 2004: 91). This reminds me of my own observation in a fishing village in Madura, Indonesia, where I found that between 1978 and 2004 the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ had widened (Niehof et al., 2005). Comparing the two areas, Balatibat (2004: 163) concludes: ‘Both sites suffered from the consequences of natural calamities and the financial crisis during the past years, but the findings indicate the more vulnerable situation of fishing communities compared to agriculture-based ones. In the coastal area, the perennially fragile economic conditions worsened by the effects of the El Niño and La Niña phenomena and the 1997-98 financial crisis had put more pressure on the food supply of households’. The study of Roa Roa’s research was carried out in two different ecologically vulnerable areas in the province of Leyte in the Philippines. The first research site was the village of Alegre, in the interior, about 5 km west of the sea and at the same distance from the town of Dulag in the upper mid-eastern part of Leyte. Dulag lies at the shores of the Pacific Ocean and gets its share of typhoons and storms. Alegre is located on the periphery of the Daguitan watershed and, especially during heavy northeast monsoons, is prone to flooding. The watershed suffers from indiscriminate extraction of sand and gravel, riverbank erosion, illegal logging, and slash-and-burn farming, which create upstream erosion and more floods. The second research site was the village of Plaridel in the mid-western town of Baybay. The village itself is a small watershed, with a river as its northern boundary. During the wet season Plaridel can be heavily battered by the southwest and northeast monsoons, causing wind and water erosion in the exposed hilly areas. As Roa (2007: 119) says: ‘Both portray different types of fragile landscapes.’ She adds that ‘based on land use and number of households engaged in farming both villages are classified as agricultural, though farm incomes have dwindled over the past ten years or so.’ The types of agro-ecosystems found in both villages are summarized in Table 2.4. For both areas degradation of the soil and loss of biophysical resources was observed. With Plaridel lying near the coast, fishing also provides a source of food and livelihood. However, there has been a marked decrease in fish stocks since the 1990s, due to indiscriminate fishing by fishermen from neighbouring towns and degradation of the fish habitat (Roa, 2007: 136). Apart from environmental resources, socio-cultural ones play a significant role in generating livelihood and in food provision. The kinship network has always been a source of food, personal credit, and other forms of assistance in times of need, and is depended upon for the care of children and the sick. When women have to work outside the home or outside the village due to financial pressures, relatives take care of the children. Roa (2007: 149) finds it ‘ironic that the higher the socio-economic status of the household, the wider the social Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

39

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.4. Agro-ecosystems in Alegre and Plaridel (Roa, 2007: 130-134).

Agro-ecosystem Alegre

Plaridel

Farmlands in the northern riverbeds, mainly A narrow coastal strip, living area with coconut grown with coconut, some areas with a fields and patches of banana, nipa and mix of maize, sweet potato, taro, and some romblon (used for mat weaving and basketry). vegetables. Irrigated rice lands that could yield two harvests A narrow plain, mainly residential area, with per year, but due to problems with irrigation pockets of irrigated rice and home garden are only planted once and left fallow for the with vegetables and ornamental plants. rest of the year. Flat alluvial plains in the central part of the The hilly area with small settlements, with village, grown with coconut and with raincoconut as main crop (some areas combined fed rice, maize, sweet potato, taro, either as with fruit trees) and maize (mixed with sweet mixed cropping or in rotation, and backyard potato and other crops) as second crop(s). vegetable gardens. The mountain area, part public land and forest, part abaca farms (mixed with other crops like banana and taro) of certified farmers.

network becomes. The lower the status of the household, the more the social network tends to serve the very basic such as food, clothing or providing domestic employment.’ This is indeed ironic, but the literature shows that the more people need social capital because they lack other forms of capital (financial and economic), the less social capital they have (e.g. Nombo, 2007). The existence of a communal spirit is apparent from the fact that a neighbour or a friend will lend a helping hand when necessary. The cultural institution of utang na loob, debt of gratitude, links people in cycles of mutually benefiting transactions. The suki system of patron-client relationship is a socio-cultural institution as much as it is an economic one. The suki trader who buys produce from farmers or mat weavers is an important source of credit. The transactions take place within established relationships based on trust. Roa developed a typology of household livelihood portfolios based on the percentage distribution of income sources: farm, off-farm and non-farm income. Type 1 households have a more or less equal distribution of income from the three sources. Type 2 are those where farm income is more than 50%, Type 3 where off-farm income is more than 50%, and Type 4 where non-farm income is more than 50% (as in the case of households engaged in romblon weaving in Plaridel). Farm wage labour (e.g. in cash crop farms) is the 40 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

most important predictor for all livelihood types, which confirms that labour is the most important resource farming households have (Roa, 2007: 199). For households with more than 50% of non-farm income sources (Type 4), the remittances of male and female labour migrants have become increasingly important. In less-favoured areas like the research sites, off-farm and non-farm work are indispensible for rural livelihoods. The actual activity will depend on the opportunities and resources in and outside the village. Off-farm and non-farm income provide the means to invest in the farm and increase farm yields. Livelihood type emerged as a significant variable in the nutritional status of children under five. Total full farm income and a Type 3 livelihood system correlated positively and highly significantly with children’s nutritional status.3 Roa (2007: 259) concludes that ‘livelihood type is, effectively, the catch-all variable that reflects the dynamics of resource choice and use, especially labour and time, plus the other significant farm and socio-demographic variables.’ Horticulturists and rice farmers A study in rural Subang (West Java) compared income, food consumption and nutritional status of 261 households in a region dominated by horticulture and 261 households in a rice-growing area (Suhanda et al., 2009). With regard to food consumption and nutritional status of children, differences could be observed between households with horticulturebased livelihoods and those with rice-cultivation-based livelihoods. Average monthly per capita income proved to be substantially lower for the horticulturist households than for the rice-farming ones: Rp351,484 and Rp461,494 respectively (Suhanda et al., 2009: 43). The authors do not provide an explanation for the lower income of the horticulturalist households. With access to well-functioning markets, theoretically cultivating vegetables should be more profitable than growing rice. In a situation of an imperfect market, and also having less access to alternative income-generating opportunities than rice-growing households, horticulturalist households end up being poorer. In addition, the horticulturalist households have to buy most if not all of their staple food, rice. That this poses a problem for them can be seen in Table 2.5, which compares patterns of consumption of various foods between the two types of households. The table shows that horticulturalist households consume less rice and more cassava than the rice-growing households, while in Java, as in most other parts of Indonesia, cassava as a staple is considered inferior to rice. Table 2.5 shows slight differences in food consumption patterns. As already referred to above, rice-growing households consume more cereals, whereas horticulturist households consume more cassava. Sweet potato consumption is very low for both types of households. The consumption of soy bean products hardly differs. The consumption of animal protein is low for both types of households; chicken is consumed most in rice-growing households and (the cheaper) salted fish most in horticulturist households. In both types of households beef and goat rarely figure on the menu. The consumption of vegetables and fruits presents 3 Chapter 3 discusses in more detail the research findings relating to child nutrition.

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.5. Consumption of cereals, root crops, animal protein, soy bean products, vegetables and fruits of Subang households according to agro-ecological area (Suhanda et al., 2009: 66-72).

Kind of food

Agro-ecological area Horticulture (n=261)

Rice-growing (n=261)

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

3.5 2.2 1.8 1.1

19.6 2.7 0.7 0.7

2.8 3.5 1.7 1.4

Cereals and root crops: frequency per week Rice 18.2 Maize 1.2 Cassava 2.2 Sweet potato 0.4 Animal protein: frequency per week Chicken 3.2 Beef or goat 0.05 Fresh water fish 1.9 Salted fish 6.1 Chicken egg 2.9 Soy bean products: frequency per week Tempe 2.4 Tofu 2.7 Vegetables and fruits: frequency per week Carrot 1.8 Cabbage 1.8 Tomato 4.2 Jackfruit 1.6 Papaya 0.3 Eggplant 0.6

4.0 0.09 2.6 3.9 2.3

5.3 0.09 3.1 4.8 2.0

6.3 0.04 5.4 4.6 1.8

1.8 1.8

2.8 2.8

1.9 2.0

1.2 1.2 2.6 3.7 0.6 0.7

1.1 0.9 5.0 3.6 0.4 1.0

1.0 1.1 3.7 6.5 0.9 1.1

a mixed pattern. While the frequency and quantity of food consumption tends to be lower among the horticulturist households, in terms of per capita intake of energy (Kcal.) and some nutrients such as calcium, phosphor and vitamin A, the pattern is reversed: horticulturist households score better in this respect (Suhanda et al., 2009: 77). On the other hand, the average Z scores (weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height) are better for children in rice-growing households. The researchers attribute this to their higher consumption of cereals (Suhanda et al., 2009: 82).

42 

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2. Diversity of food systems and foods

The results of this research show linkages between type of livelihood, household income, food consumption patterns and nutritional status of children. Not all differences between the two types of households are statistically significant, but the results do reveal that different livelihood modes yield different household incomes and influence food consumption patterns. 2.1.2 Rural-urban differences This section discusses diversity in the sense of differences in patterns of food consumption and nutritional status between rural and urban environments. In Indonesia urbanization is progressing rapidly. According to recent estimates (UNFPA, 2009: 88-89), the proportions of people living in urban and rural areas in Indonesia are now about equal with even a slightly higher proportion of urban population (53%), while in the Philippines two-thirds (66%) of the population is urban. One may expect differences in ways of food procurement, patterns of food consumption and resulting differences in nutritional status between rural and urban households. With regard to food procurement households in densely populated urban environment are significantly less able to produce (part of ) their own food than rural households; they are almost wholly dependent on food purchases. One can also expect different food consumption patterns and food preferences as part different lifestyles, which would theoretically result in differences in nutritional status. Based on the material we have at our disposal, we shall see to which extent this is the case. Most of the studies reviewed focus on rural areas, one on an urban community, and two provide a comparison. The study focusing on an urban community, La Trinidad in the Philippines, is the study by Blijham et al. (2007) discussed in Chapter 3. Here, it suffices to say that a main finding of the study is the mother’s slight control over the children’s food intake. One could argue that this would be a greater problem in an urban area than a rural one because of more working mothers in urban areas, a greater exposure of urban children to social pressure from peers and media, and the urban availability of a variety of snack foods. The study on childcare of children aged 6 to 36 months by Jakarta mothers of different ethnic backgrounds (Karo Batak and Minangkabau) and by mothers in the rural areas of origin (Februhartanty et al., 2005, 2007), offers some scope for comparison. Applying the same instrument for measuring care of infants and toddlers, the researchers conclude that the urban mothers, irrespective of ethnicity, are better in child care then the rural ones. Muchtadi’s research (2007) offers the most systematic comparison of rural and urban households. It investigated the acceptability and frequency of consumption of soybean products in rural as well as urban areas. The sampled urban areas included: South Jakarta, Serang, Bandung, Semarang, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Malang. The sampled rural areas included the districts of Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor in West Java, the district of Purwokerto in Central Java, and the district of Jember in East Java. Thus it covers five provinces: Banten, West Java, Central Java, the Special region of Yogyakarta, and East Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

43

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Java. The total number of rural households included in the study was 800, that of urban households 1,280, amounting to a total sample size of 2,080. Table 2.6 compares the economic status of the rural and urban households. Based on the economic indicators, there is not much difference between the rural and the urban households. Table 2.7 compares the consumption of soybean products for the two types of households. It presents the figures for the most frequently consumed products as reported by the household heads. Responses of never having consumed a particular product were left out, which is why the number of respondents differs per product. In ranking order of the number of respondents ever having consumed the product, the most popular products are: tempe (fermented soybean cake), tofu (known as tahu in Indonesia), soybean grains (snack food), soybean sprouts and soybean milk, which is ever consumed by only 754 out of 2,080 respondents. With respect to soybean milk one would expect a difference between rural and urban areas because in the latter the product is more available, but the differences are not very pronounced. Consumption of tempe, tofu and soybean sprouts is slightly higher in urban than in rural areas. This cannot be a matter of availability. It might be that in urban areas people are better informed about the high nutritional values of soybean products than in rural areas. This explanation is supported by the fact that that urban household heads and their wives are better educated than their rural counterparts. The percentages of urban household heads and their wives with completed education at high-school level or higher were 55.2 and 45.1, respectively, while – in the same order – those of rural household heads and their wives were 38.7 and 28.8 (Muchtadi, 2007: 17, 19). Comparison between rural and urban respondents in terms of the nutritional status of the different age and sex categories in the sample is presented in Table 2.8. Table 2.6. Economic status of rural and urban households in Javanese provinces (Muchtadi, 2007: 22-23).

Economic indicators

Area

Total monthly household income in rupiah Per capita monthly household income in rupiah Percentage poor households1

Rural

Urban

1,045,111 261,438 20.8%

1,148,869 284,070 20.4%

1 Poor households are those below the poverty line for 2002 set by the Indonesian Bureau of

Statistics: Rp96,512 per capita per months for rural areas and Rp130,541 for urban areas.

44 

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2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.7. Frequency of consumption by rural and urban households of the most popular soybean products according to household heads (Muchtadi, 2007: 53).

Type of soybean products

Tempe

Soy sauce

Tofu

Soybean milk

Soybean sprouts

Soybean grains

Consumption frequency

Seldom Sometimes Often Total Seldom Sometimes Often Total Seldom Sometimes Often Total Seldom Sometimes Often Total Seldom Sometimes Often Total Seldom Sometimes Often Total

Area Rural (n=800)

Urban (n=1,280)

Total (n=2,080)

N

%

N

%

N

%

20 181 591 792 85 208 500 793 32 229 531 792 212 32 29 273 284 207 104 595 463 175 84 722

2.5 22.9 74.6 100.0 10.7 26.2 63.1 100.0 4.0 28.9 67.0 100.0 77.7 11.7 10.6 100.0 47.7 34.8 17.5 100.0 64.1 24.2 11.6 100.0

19 98 1,151 1,268 135 431 700 1,266 16 214 1036 1,266 480 177 48 705 470 428 234 1,132 653 304 111 1,068

1.5 7.7 90.8 100.0 10.7 34.0 55.3 100.0 1.3 16.9 81.8 100.0 68.1 25.1 6.8 100.0 41.5 37.8 20.7 100.0 61.1 28.5 10.4 100.0

39 279 1,742 2,060 220 639 1,200 2,059 48 443 1567 2,058 692 209 77 978 754 635 338 1,727 1,116 479 195 1,790

1.9 13.5 84.6 100.0 10.7 31.0 58.3 100.0 2.3 21.5 76.1 100.0 70.8 21.4 7.9 100.0 43.7 36.8 19.6 100.0 62.3 26.8 10.9 100.0

Among the teenagers, both male and female, the percentages of the thin or very thin are quite high and the percentages of those with a normal body mass index quite low. This applies to both types of areas, though among the male teenagers much more so in rural than in urban areas. Among the adults, urban women are on average thinner than their rural counterparts, while for men the opposite is the case. Among the elderly, especially the rural elderly, too many are thin or very thin, but the sample is small. Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

45

2. Diversity of food systems and foods Table 2.8. Nutritional status based on body mass index (BMI) of rural and urban teenagers, adults, and elderly (Muchtadi, 2007: 74-76).

Nutritional status based on BMI

Male teenagers Very thin Thin Normal Fat Obese Total Female teenagers Very thin Thin Normal Fat Obese Total Female adults Very thin Thin Normal Fat Obese Total Male adults Very thin Thin Normal Fat Obese Total Elderly Very thin Thin Normal Fat Obese Total

46 

Rural

Urban

Total

N

%

N

%

N

%

49 25 61 3 5 143

34.3 17.5 42.7 2.1 3.5 100.0

54 47 121 1 6 229

23.6 20.5 52.8 0.4 2.6 100.0

103 72 182 4 11 372

27.7 19.4 48.9 1.1 3.0 100.0

39 30 59 1 5 134

29.1 22.4 44.0 0.7 3.7 100.0

55 41 108 3 8 215

25.6 19.1 50.2 1.4 3.7 100.0

94 71 167 4 13 349

26.9 20.3 47.9 1.1 3.7 100.0

9 10 70 8 8 105

8.6 9.5 66.7 7.6 7.6 100.0

31 42 122 15 20 230

13.5 18.3 53.0 6.5 8.7 100.0

40 52 192 23 28 335

11.9 15.5 57.3 6.9 8.4 100.0

15 14 48 5 4 86

17.4 16.3 55.8 5.8 4.7 100.0

32 35 164 7 13 251

12.7 13.9 65.3 2.8 5.2 100.0

47 49 212 12 17 337

13.9 14.5 62.9 3.6 5.0 100.0

10 5 25 3 43

23.3 11.6 58.1 7.0 100.0

9 4 40 6 5 64

14.1 6.3 62.5 9.4 7.8 100.0

19 9 65 6 8 107

17.8 8.4 60.7 5.6 7.5 100.0

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

The nutritional status of children is better measured by looking at height and weight according to age. The categories are based on the z-scores. The study compared the scores for rural and urban children under five and for primary-school age children. The figures are presented in Table 2.9 and 2.10, respectively. Based on height for age, the percentage of pre-school children with good nutritional status is higher in urban than in rural areas. Based on height for age, among the rural pre-school children the percentages with poor and inadequate nutritional status are clearly higher in rural than in urban areas. Table 2.9. Body weight for age, body height for age, and weight for height in categories based on z-scores (<-2, <-1, between -1 and + 1, >+1, >+2) of rural and urban children under five (Muchtadi, 2007: 72).

Nutritional status

BW/A Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total BH/A Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total BW/BH Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total

Rural

Urban

Total

N

%

N

%

N

%

32 147 515 15 16 725

4.4 20.3 71.0 2.1 2.2 100.0

36 159 688 22 22 927

3.9 17.2 74.2 2.4 2.4 100.0

68 306 1,203 37 38 1,652

4.1 18.5 72.8 2.2 2.3 100.0

148 114 429 16 18 725

20.4 15.7 59.2 2.2 2.5 100.0

122 105 599 56 45 927

13.2 11.3 64.6 6.0 4.9 100.0

270 219 1,028 72 63 1,652

16.3 13.3 62.2 4.4 3.8 100.0

41 57 535 35 57 725

5.7 7.9 73.8 4.8 7.9 100.0

68 101 669 39 50 927

7.3 10.9 72.2 4.2 5.4 100.0

109 158 1,204 74 107 1,652

6.6 9.6 72.9 4.5 6.5 100.0

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

47

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.10. Weight for age, height for age, and weight for height z-score categories of rural and urban children of primary school age (Muchtadi, 2007: 73).

Nutritional status

BW/A Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total BH/A Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total BW/BH Index Poor Inadequate Good Fat Obese Total

Rural

Urban

Total

N

%

n

%

N

%

18 98 339 11 4 470

3.8 20.9 72.1 2.3 0.9 100.0

21 142 494 18 13 688

3.1 20.6 71.8 2.6 1.9 100.0

39 240 833 29 17 1,158

3.4 20.7 71.9 2.5 1.5 100.0

58 105 298 8 1 470

12.3 22.3 63.4 1.7 0.2 100.0

116 124 431 12 5 688

16.9 18.0 62.6 1.7 0.7 100.0

174 229 729 20 6 1,158

15.0 19.8 63.0 1.7 0.5 100.0

24 36 339 29 42 470

5.1 7.7 72.1 6.2 8.9 100.0

35 58 440 45 110 688

5.1 8.4 64.0 6.5 16.0 100.0

59 94 779 74 152 1,158

5.1 8.1 67.3 6.4 13.1 100.0

There does not seem to be much difference in nutritional status between rural and urban children of primary-school age (Table 2.10). Note the rather high percentages of obese children, which are higher in urban than in rural areas. Additionally, the report notes that because bad nutrition has a cumulative effect on growth, height for age to a certain extent measures past nutrition. Hence, the figures in both tables (relatively low height for age scores) would indicate that in the past the nutritional status of children was worse than at the time the research was conducted. Reviewing the data presented above, the general conclusion is that the differences between urban and rural households are not very pronounced, although there are differences with regard to specific sex-age categories, mostly to the disadvantage of the rural population. 48 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Obesity is occurring more frequently among urban households than rural ones but does not (yet) seem to be a major problem, except for the rather high percentage of obese urban primary school-age children. The issue of obesity as an emergent problem will be further discussed in Chapter 4 (Section 4.3.2) as part of the discussion on social change. 2.1.3 Food systems in specific communities This section presents ethnographic data on the workings of the food system in specific communities in Indonesia and the Philippines. It aims at highlighting the diverse linkages between culture, environment and the food system. The studies reviewed are about the Mentawai in West Sumatra and the Baduy in West Java, both in Indonesia, and villages of a mixed indigenous (Aeta) and migrant population in the Tarlac highlands in the Philippines, to be discussed in this order. The Mentawai study The study on the Mentawai by the team of anthropologists from Andalas University in Padang portrays a community and culture in transition (Rudito et al., 2002). The Mentawai district comprises the islands of the Siberut archipelago, named after the largest island. It is part of the province of West Sumatra, where Islam and Minangkabau culture dominate. The research was conducted in 2000, in Muntei, a village on the island of Siberut. Mountains north of the village covered with forests are a source of wood, fruit (e.g. durian), herbal medicine, aromatic herbs, plant foods (e.g. sago palm) and edible animals. In the village area, on the banks of the river Siberut are fields where the people grow taro and banana, and keep pigs and chickens. The houses in Muntei are part of a government resettlement programme. They are built in parallel rows separated by a path. In the forest, people still have their traditional houses arranged around the communal house (uma). Of the 84 households in Muntei 75 are ethnic Mentawai (from 15 clans). The families in the other households are from other ethnic groups (Minangkabau, Nias, Batak and Javanese). The village also has a Catholic church and a mosque (although there are few Muslim families) as well as an elementary school. The study relates important values in Mentawai culture that revolve around hunting and are expressed in rituals of food consumption. As the study’s point of departure, the researchers used the interpretation of culture as a system of meanings that guides people’s choices and actions and underlies their social institutions (as expanded by Clifford Geertz and other anthropologists). The book by Rudito et al. (2002) is rich in detail on many aspects of Mentawai culture. For the purposes of this book however, I will focus on the linkages between culture and food and their implications for people’s food intake. Mentawai culture has two types of rituals: the punen and the lia. The first is a clan or community ritual conducted, for example, to purge the uma or the clan from bad influences Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

49

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

or catastrophes, or to inaugurate a new sikerey (ritual specialist). The second are householdlevel rituals, staged to ward off illness in the family or as rites of passage at crucial life-cycle moments. For lia rituals the involvement of the sikerey is not always required; the head of the family can conduct them. At the punen ritual to drive out bad spirits from the uma, chickens and pigs are ritually killed and consumed. The pig’s heart is given special treatment because of its significance for the hunt to take place later. The biggest punen ritual is for the inauguration of a new sikerey. On this occasion many pigs and chickens are slaughtered. There is singing and dancing, and the candidate has to prove that he masters the repertoire of holy words. Additionally, he has to contribute a set of bells, a cock, chickens, two pigs, sago palms, a rambutan tree and durian tree. A newly planted sago palm in a yard indicates that the clan living there is inaugurating a new sikerey. Two lia rituals prepare boys and girls for their respective future gender roles in food provision. The ritual for boys of four to five years old prepares them for hunting in the forest. During the ritual they are allowed to use hunting attributes for the first time. The similar ritual for girls of that age is to make sure they will be diligent and successful in fishing, a women’s job. The rituals are described in detail in the book (Rudito et al., 2002: 45-72). Hunting and fishing are key activities in Mentawai culture. Embedded in ritual, they are much valued for the food they may yield. Punen and lia rituals are always followed by hunting. At sea, especially the sea turtle is hunted. This is done at night by groups of four men in a canoe, using a spear for a weapon and a lamp to attract the animals. Women fish for snails, shells and smaller fish in the coastal waters or in the river, using nets. Before the resettlement programme was implemented, when people were still living in the forest, they did not hunt at sea. Hunting in the forest, however, has always been at the core of Mentawai culture. It uses bows and arrows with poisoned tips. Dogs are used to find and follow animal tracks. The hunt is preceded by a ritual for which special foods are prepared. Hunting is seen as a sacred activity. The animals the hunters go after are different kinds of monkeys, wild pigs and deer. Turtle shields and monkey skulls on the wall in a house testify to its owner’s prowess as a hunter. It is noteworthy that the many rules surrounding the hunt include the obligation always to share the meat with the other people of the uma (Rudito et al., 2002: 91). Taro is the main staple and source of carbohydrates in the traditional Mentawai menu. Sago and banana are other staple foods. There are many sago palms all over the island. Finding a tree of the right age (15 years), cutting the tree, and processing and filtering its contents are men’s work. Women are responsible for maintaining the taro fields and preparing daily meals. A common breakfast is sago mixed with chopped coconut. The menu further includes leaves gathered and eaten as vegetable, fruit, and sources of protein like fish and caterpillars, apart from the meat resulting from the hunt. Collecting rattan in the forest and cultivating clove and aromatic herbs generate income. Part of the money may be used for buying rice, for it has become a prestige food that now also features in rituals. Mentawai people think that eating rice is smart and that they are looked down upon as being primitive when they eat sago, the latter their Minangkabau neighbours probably do. When a family has cooked 50 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

rice, they may invite the neighbours for the meal, thereby showing that they can afford offering rice (Rudito et al., 2002: 111). The Baduy study The Baduy live in the province of Banten in Indonesia, since 17 October 2000 an independent province. Before, it was part of the province of West Java. The Baduy live in the mountainous area of Kendeng, in an area called Kanekes, which is also the name Baduy people use for themselves. The Baduy see their land as entrusted to them by the ancestors. It must be well preserved and maintained and cannot be claimed for personal ownership. Though living only a hundred kilometres from Jakarta, so far the Baduy have been able to keep the rest of the world at bay. The Indonesian government has set apart a protected area of some 5,000 hectares for the Baduy. The population of about 7,200 people consists of two separate clans: the Inner Baduy, numbering only 350 and living in three villages in the core area, and the remaining Outer Baduy, living outside the core area. Inner Baduy is the centre of Baduy culture and religion, the focus of rituals, and it harbours the sacred Baduy sites. Foreigners are not allowed to meet the Inner Baduy. In spite of the forces of modernization and the pressure on the community to assimilate within modern Indonesian society, the Baduy still control their mountain stronghold, where religious and cultural practices have remained largely unchanged, almost to the present day. The study by Khomsan et al. (2009) is aimed at describing the social, economic, cultural and ecological characteristics of the Baduy community; gaining an understanding of the people’s food system; and assessing their health and nutritional status. For the 12-month field study a sample of 338 households was drawn: 303 Outer Baduy, 10 Inner Baduy and 25 Muslim Baduy households. A survey and a 24-hour food intake recall were done, anthropometrical measurements were made, and 19 key formal and informal leaders were interviewed. There are some limitations to the data collected on food consumption. When using the 24-hour recall method, people found it difficult to remember the food they had consumed. Another problem was that it was difficult to interview Baduy women, so most respondents were men (husbands). Measuring nutritional status was not easy either, because some respondents refused to have their height and weight measurements taken. Nevertheless, the findings of the research team deserve a closer look. According to the account of the research team, the culture of the Baduy community can be characterized by three main features: first, the difference between Inner and Outer Baduy; second, the primacy of preserving and respecting nature; and third, the egalitarian ideology. The study also pays attention to gender roles and relations among the Baduy. For the proper interpretation of the data on the food system and food consumption I shall use the ethnographic data that can be found in detail in Chapter 5 of the report (Khomsan et al., 2009).

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

51

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

People belong to the Inner Baduy by birth and marriage. Since they are the guardians of Baduy tradition and spirituality, they have to abide by stricter rules than the Outer Baduy. The rules not only pertain to the spiritual domain but also to daily life. Inner Baduy are not allowed to use artificial materials and equipment like the hoe and the plough in agriculture, for example. Violation of these rules leads to expulsion from Inner Baduy. Marriage provides a way of moving between Inner and Outer Baduy. The spiritual and cultural leaders of all Baduy people live in Inner Baduy. Baduy garments are not colourful; they are either white or dark (brown and blue), for men and women alike. Inner Baduy people still strictly adhere to the ‘dress code’, youngsters in Outer Baduy might be seen wearing jeans and t-shirts. The Outer Baduy are the mediators between the Baduy community and the Indonesian government and society, since non-Baduy are not allowed to enter the inner circle. For the Baduy the relationship between man and nature should be harmonious. They highly respect nature. Damaging it is considered a great sin because this can disturb the survival of all mankind on Earth. They believe that God created the four elements of life: soil, water, fire, and wind. As part of their devotion and worship by working, they are obliged to keep the four elements in harmony. In their view, God has given them the responsibility for preserving the balance of nature and preventing its destruction by human beings. The Baduy consider work, particularly tilling the dry land, as worship. Laziness is considered a sin. The Baduy’s concept of social organization is basically egalitarian. Human relationships are highly valued and all people are regarded to relate equally to Baduy culture and custom. This does not mean the absence of social hierarchy or stratification in the community; there are richer and poorer people and people of higher and lower status. However, status and wealth difference are not expressed in clothing or in housing, though richer people will have more barns for storing rice. Sharing is a strong norm. Many traditional ceremonies and activities are intended to create equality and give the richer people the opportunity to share their food with the less well-off. At important ceremonies, the traditional head of all Baduy, the puun, will see to it that the poor and disabled get their share. Gender relations among the Baduy are based on the principle that man and wife are equal but have different responsibilities. Both men and women are expected to work hard, though women will do lighter work in agriculture than men, and are paid less than men for the same work. A wife can do paid work, and may work outside the home, provided she does not neglect her responsibilities as a mother and wife. Most suitable for Baduy women is work that can be done around the home, such as weaving and selling goods. Boys and girls are treated in the same way, and sons and daughters inherit equal shares. However, the man is the head of the household and the decision maker. Because the market is located far from Kanekes, shopping at the market is more frequently done by men than by women. In Baduy community, violence is prohibited. A husband is not allowed to beat his wife or scold her in front of others. Baduy women are allowed to look beautiful. In Outer Baduy women use cosmetics and jewelry. Inner Baduy women are not permitted to use cosmetics; when they 52 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

go outside by day, their faces are thickly coated in thick powder to protect them from the sunlight. The gender relations of the Muslim Baduy living in Cicakal Girang are not much different. Quite a number of Baduy women work outside Cicakal Girang, for instance as housemaids in Jakarta, or selling goods. The agricultural and food system of the Baduy revolves around rice. Rice is only allowed to grow on dry land without irrigation, huma. A married couple must have their own dry land and comply with the customary rules for its cultivation. Farming is the main source of livelihood. At the same time it is a form of devotion. The Baduy have always practiced shifting cultivation. However, population pressure has caused the people to rent or purchase farmland outside Kanekes. In Inner Baduy, ownership of farmland is collective. People can use the land according to their capacity to cultivate it. Outer Baduy people work on their own land passed on from one generation to another. Some possess huma outside the Baduy area (see above). The Baduy distinguish six types of huma according to function, ownership, and cultivation methods: • Huma serang: this is sacred land in Inner Baduy, its yield used in traditional ceremonies. It is cultivated collectively by both Inner and Outer Baduy under the leadership of the puun. • Huma puun: this land is for the puun for as long as he holds this position. Like huma serang its cultivation involves the whole community. • Huma tangtu: land cultivated by the Inner Baduy for their own needs. • Huma tuladan: communal land in Outer Baduy. Its yields are used for ceremonies and village needs. • Huma panamping: the land cultivated by the Outer Baduy. • Huma urang Baduy: it is the land outside the Baduy area cultivated by Outer Baduy for their families’ needs. In Inner Baduy rice seeds are kept in the communal rice barn, set aside from the previous year’s harvest. The Outer Baduy use their own seeds from the previous harvest, ask their neighbours or relatives for seeds, or buy them on the market. Simple tools are used in cultivation. While using a hoe or plough used to be prohibited, the Outer Baduy now use this equipment now. In farming men do the heavier jobs and women the lighter ones. A woman’s status in rice cultivation is that her husband’s helper. Following the local Baduy lunar calendar, the puun determines the times for planting, and harvesting, and guides the rituals and ceremonies related to rice cultivation. Selling rice is prohibited. Parts of the harvest are stored for ceremonial purposes. Yields per hectare are 1,200 to 1,500 kilos. Not only rice is grown on huma land, but also fruit crops, maize, petai beans, and root crops (cassava, taro and sweet potato) are grown on huma land. Sugar is provided by sugar palms grown only in Outer Baduy. The Baduy, particularly the Inner Baduy, are not allowed to grow coffee, pepper, and cloves. The Inner Baduy, notably the puun, are forbidden to consume chemically processed foods and foods that come from outside and are also not allowed to Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

53

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

smoke. Eating the meat of pigs, snakes, cats and dogs is prohibited for all Baduy. Sources of livelihood vary between the three groups of Baduy (Table 2.11). The Baduy see formal education as a potential threat to their culture. This shows in the low literacy rates in Inner Baduy, but also in Outer Baduy (Table 2.12). Muslim Baduy have a greater variety of livelihood sources. In addition to farming, some men work as teachers, some women as domestic servants. Living on the border of the Baduy area, they frequently communicate with the outside world. And they are the only Baduy with access to electricity. The different lifestyles of the three groups are apparent from the different expenditure patterns (Table 2.13). Food consumption according to sources of carbohydrates, animal protein, vegetable protein, and vegetables, shows the following pattern (Table 2.14). Table 2.11. Sources of livelihood of Baduy husbands and wives in percentages (Khomsan et al., 2009: 74-75).

Sources of livelihood

Farming Trading Weaving Other None Total (%)

Outer Baduy (n=303)

Inner Baduy (n=10)

Muslim Baduy (n=25)

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

98.6 0.4 0.4 0.8 100.2

90.7 3.1 6.2 100.0

100.0 100.0

20.0 80.0 100.0

72.0 4.0 24.0 100.0

68.0 32.0 100.0

Table 2.12. Reading and writing skills of Baduy husbands and wives in percentages (Khomsan et al., 2009: 72-73).

Literacy skills

Reading Writing

54 

Outer Baduy (n=303)

Inner Baduy (n=10)

Muslim Baduy (n=25)

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

32.7 29.9

14.9 13.2

10.0 10.0

0.0 0.0

92.0 92.0

92.0 92.0

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.13. Monthly per capita expenditures in rupiah of the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 79-80).

Types of expenditures Food Side dishes Vegetables & fruits Snacks Other1 Non-food Health Clothing Cigarettes Fuel

Outer Baduy (n=303) Inner Baduy (n=10)

Muslim Baduy (n=25)

24,699 8,123 28,006 35,761

20,167 1,292 12,268 72,961

31,943 8,094 35,007 93,135

6,215 5,465 31,352 6,720

100 667 0 0

6,416 5,306 34,187 1,333

1 Includes: rice, cooking oil, noodles, milk, coffee, sugar, salt, spices, etc.

Table 2.14. Frequency of selected types of foods consumed per time unit (mean and standard deviation) for the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 108-110).

Types of food

Sources of carbohydrates Rice Sugar Noodles Cassava Sweet potato Taro Maize

Time unit

Day Day Week Month Month Month Year

Outer Baduy (n=303)

Inner Baduy (n=10)

Muslim Baduy (n=25)

Mean

s.d.

Mean

s.d.

Mean

0.84 1.13 3.34 6.52 4.46 4.03 22.45

2.90 0.82 0.00 2.50 3.02 1.82 21.00

0.32 0.50 0.01 4.55 5.30 4.01 20.07

2.86 2.24 1.05 4.23 2.29 2.33 9.11

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

2.16 1.43 1.52 7.56 0.65 1.50 7.24

s.d.

1.18 1.23 2.71 9.78 1.30 2.88 17.04

55

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.14. Continued.

Types of food

Time unit

Sources of animal protein Salted fish Day Cow milk Month Pindang fish Month Fresh water fish Month Chicken meat Month Eggs Month Sea fish Month Beef Year Sources of vegetable protein Tofu Week Tempe Week Peanut Month Green bean Year Petai bean Year Vegetables Cassava leaf Week Tomato Week Papaya leaf Week Water spinach Month Eggplant Month Cucumber Month Baby papaya Month Cabbage Month Long bean Month Spinach Month Carrot Month Melinjo Month Baby jackfruit Month Squash Month

56 

Outer Baduy (n=303)

Inner Baduy (n=10)

Muslim Baduy (n=25)

Mean

Mean

Mean

s.d.

s.d.

s.d.

2.39 3.04 2.98 1.55 1.39 1.21 1.17 5.04

1.09 12.80 3.98 5.95 6.10 6.33 5.70 8.42

0.68 0.53 2.90 2.00 0.23 0.30 0.10 0.20

0.38 1.37 4.00 3.91 0.28 0.67 0.32 0.63

1.29 3.81 5.36 3.00 0.52 2.85 1.47 0.20

1.07 9.22 3.95 5.28 0.88 5.55 2.69 0.41

1.82 1.78 1.26 11.81 2.93

2.30 2.28 3.64 65.26 8.36

0.82 0.82 2.33 3.60 19.30

0.72 0.72 5.37 11.38 48.55

1.04 1.78 4.67 124.72 35.12

1.24 1.97 7.26 295.59 64.36

3.21 2.73 1.74 2.93 2.71 2.46 2.32 1.87 1.83 1.80 1.40 1.37 1.00 1.17

2.64 2.99 2.24 7.81 4.43 5.22 4.73 5.16 3.75 4.19 4.38 2.52 3.42 2.69

0.22 0.33 0.12 1.50 1.76 2.73 2.17 0.53 4.21 1.70 0.44 2.70 2.70 2.28

0.41 0.47 0.32 2.86 2.22 3.56 3.06 1.37 4.51 2.81 1.37 2.95 2.95 2.99

5.17 6.68 0.95 17.85 1.57 4.68 3.77 10.15 8.85 14.55 7.99 11.99 1.98 11.62

6.44 6.85 1.61 25.12 3.64 6.92 6.35 20.94 18.35 23.87 18.05 24.21 1.76 24.31

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Especially the consumption of vegetables is much higher in the group of Muslim Baduy than in the other two groups, whereas the Inner Baduy have the lowest consumption of sources of protein. Fruits consumed by the Baduy include banana, orange, papaya, salak, pineapple, mango, durian, guava and jackfruit. Not one kind of fruit is consumed daily. Banana is the fruit most frequently consumed (two to four times a week). The Inner Baduy eat banana nearly twice as often as the Outer Baduy and Moslim Baduy. Orange and papaya are eaten one to five times a month. Other fruit is rarely eaten. Table 2.15 presents data on nutritional status of all household members for the three Baduy groups. Table 2.16 presents these figures for children under five. The Outer Baduy households seem to be doing quite well, while the RDA percentages for the other two groups are mostly too low, those of the Inner Baduy dramatically so. Because the above figures cannot tell us anything about the distribution of food intake within the household, the next table presents data on children under five for the three groups. Except for vitamin B1, in Outer Baduy there seem to be no differences in RDA sufficiency favouring either boys or girls. This can be assumed to be the case in the other Baduy groups as well. The Inner Baduy children score poorly with regard to a number of nutrients (iron and vitamins), but the Muslim underfives’ RDA energy achievement levels are far too low, while the other RDA levels (e.g. iron) are not very convincing either. Thus the nutritional status of children under five in the three groups reflects the RDA sufficiency levels of their households, especially those with regard to energy. The poor performance of the Muslim Baduy is rather unexpected, given their relatively high level of education and highest Table 2.15. Percentage of Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) reached per nutrient of daily per capita food intake for the three Baduy groups (Khomsan et al., 2009: 112, 115, 119).

Type of nutrient

Percentage RDA per nutrient Outer Baduy

Energy Protein Calcium Phosphor Iron Vitamin A Vitamin B1 Vitamin C

145.1 198.5 147.2 400.0 101.6 119.3 100.1 86.6

Inner Baduy 45.5 39.1 19.8 53.4 29.4 46.7 16.8 66.9

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

Muslim Baduy 37.2 54.2 74.2 119.7 35.2 102.6 226.6 117.5

57

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.16. Percentage of Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) reached per nutrient, percentage of RDA<70% of Baduy children under five, and percentage of RDA for boys and girls in Outer Baduy only (Khomsan et al., 2009: 115, 117, 120, 121).1

Type of nutrient

Energy Protein Calcium Phosphor Iron Vitamin A Vitamin B1 Vitamin C

Percentage RDA per nutrient of underfives Outer Baduy % RDA boys/girls

Inner Baduy

Muslim Baduy

Boys

girls

% RDA

%<70%

% RDA

%<70%

103.9 108.3 140.6 125.6 75.3 71.5 553.1 43.2

103.3 107.2 127.2 230.6 61.5 77.8 170.5 55.1

97.3 79.0 82.0 59.9 37.5 152.8 405.8 83.4

28.6 42.9 28.6 57.1 71.4 28.6 28.6 28.6

76.9 84.5 112.8 106.3 46.0 97.4 75.1 76.9

68.0 51.9 52.0 46.4 84.0 61.5 65.4 68.0

1 These figures are also given for the other groups, but there the numbers of children are quite

small. In Outer Baduy the food intake analysis was done on 111 children.

allocation of food expenditures. The Muslim Baduy also scored better than the other two groups on the questions on nutrition knowledge (Khomsan et al., 2009: 102). However, their better knowledge of nutrition translates neither into a better nutritional status of their households nor of their children under five. Apart from food intake, morbidity also influences nutritional status. Important factors in morbidity are personal hygiene and sanitation (Figure 1.1). In this respect, the Outer and notably the Inner Baduy do worse than the Muslim Baduy. Baduy tradition does not allow disturbing the earth by digging wells. All water needed is therefore taken from the river. No water closets are found among the Inner and the Outer Baduy. Knowing they would pollute the water by defecating, they do it between scrubs and rocks, and so on. Some Muslim Baduy have water closets, wells and simple bathrooms. Inner Baduy are not allowed to use soap and shampoo, but the Outer Baduy now use those increasingly. The Inner Baduy and Outer Baduy do not frequently change and wash their clothes. Hence many Baduy, especially children, were found to suffer from skin afflictions due to poor personal hygiene. A relatively high prevalence of diarrhoea and respiratory problems were also noted. When suffering from disease, the traditional healer, dukun, is still much preferred. The time reference for the 58 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

question on morbidity was two weeks (prior to the survey). It was difficult to get reliable data on morbidity among the Inner Baduy. These data were obtained by interviewing key informants such as the village midwife (Khomsan et al., 2009: 123-129). The Tarlac study of upland households During 2006-2007, a team of the Tarlac College of Agriculture in Camiling, Philippines, collected data on the livelihood and food systems of upland households in Tarlac province (Tangonan, 2008). This research project aimed at documenting the food consumption patterns, food culture, and food habits of upland households and exploring their survival strategies. Furthermore, an agenda is proposed for interventions to ensure food security of these households and to increase their household budget and resources. The research was conducted in three municipalities in the province of Tarlac, Region III (Central Luzon), Philippines, in the villages of (1) Labney (municipality of Mayantoc); (2) Dueg (municipality of San Clemente); and (3) Maamot (municipality of San Jose). Except for Dueg, almost all villagers were born in the area. In Dueg this applied only to 22 of the 74 households, because the majority of inhabitants were resettled in the area by the provincial government after they had lost their homes in the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The villages were selected based on a number of criteria, like upland location, security situation, accessibility of transportation at least during the dry season, responsiveness and cooperation of leaders and villagers, and perceived richness of indigenous knowledge and technologies. The Aeta are the indigenous ethnic group, comprising 27% of the population. Four units of analysis were considered: the upland farm household, the village, the upland farmer group, and the upland community as a whole. A total of 220 households were selected, using purposive sampling. Selection criteria were ethnicity (Christian, mestizo, or Aeta), and willingness and availability to be interviewed. To determine the living standard of the household, the following indicators were used: quality of the houses, ownership and size of farmland, household possessions, farm implements owned, transportation facilities owned, and availability of other amenities such as source of light, cooking stove, eating utensils, storage facilities, sources of water for drinking, toilet type, and garbage disposal. Scores were assigned to each of the indicators. A total score of ≥58 indicated a high living standard, on average between 31 and 57, and a score of ≤30 meant a low living standard. 47% of the upland households have a low living standard, 42% average, and 11% have a high living standard. The results further show that cooking is done on an improvised stove consisting of three stones or a traditional clay stove. For most households water comes from a natural spring or from the public faucet fed by a deep well. Some have open wells of their own or a pump. A few households use bottled water. Almost half of the households (45%) do not have a toilet. The other households have a water-sealed toilet or a closed pit. One household has a flush toilet.

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

59

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

The uplands offer wild foods, which play an important role in the food system. Types of food include root crops, vegetables, fruit, animals, birds and fish, mushrooms, insects and natural sugars. Table 2.17 gives a complete overview of the kinds of foods gathered. According to the respondents there has been a continuous decline in wild food resources. While in the 1970s 99% of such resources were widely available, in the 1980s this was reduced to between 70 and 80 percent, in the 1990s to 40 percent, and in the 2000s allegedly only 15 to 20% is left. The decline is attributed to the increased exploitation of the resources using unsustainable methods, increased population due to immigration, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, and rampant trading of wild food resources (Tangonan, 2008: 47). Due to declining wild food resources, the settlers learned and started to cultivate food crops. Table 2.18 lists the food items that are produced in the uplands. For 216 upland households (98%) farming is the primary source of income: 154 (70%) have so-called kaingin farms practicing slash-and-burn methods, 46 (21%) are engaged in flat farming, and 16 (7%) households do both. Only four households have a non-farming source of income (Table 2.19). Various cropping patterns could be observed. On the kaingin farms these: rice only, ricevegetables, rice-root crops, vegetables-fruit trees, forest trees and fruit trees, and integrated cropping of all of these. In the alluvial flat lands the usual cropping patterns are: rice only, vegetables only, rice-vegetables, and rice-root crops. The major crop in the kaingin upland farms is rice, but the production is not sufficient. The root crops serve as rice substitutes during the lean months when rice is scarce. To augment income from farming, the upland households engage in other work for additional income needed for food, children’s education, buying farm implements, paying off debts, etc. There are several sources of secondary income. An important one is paid work in rice production and post-harvest production: ploughing and harrowing fields, trimming rice field dikes, cleaning swidden farms, transplanting rice seedlings, pounding rice, etc. Wages vary between 2 and 2.5 US dollars a day. Other work is carrying heavy loads between the village centre and the different hamlets, which may earn 3.75 US dollars or a sack of rice, taro or ginger. For 155 households this kind of work is the main source of extra income. Raising livestock is a secondary source of income for 148 households, gathering and selling forest products (e.g. bamboo, timber, banana blossom, wild root crops, fruits, orchids, rattan) for 171 households. Eighty-six households engage in hunting wild boar, dear, wild cocks, big lizards, snakes, wild frogs, cats, monkeys, rats, birds or rabbits. Charcoal production is a source of income for 154 households, while 102 households derive extra income from fishing. Forty-seven households are engaged in small trade or have a small (sari-sari) store. Thirty-three persons have an additional income from employment (e.g. as housemaid, mason, or construction worker) or are working as a pastor, a bible translator, caretaker, policeman, laundry woman, tricycle driver, or chainsaw operator. For 18 households cottage industries (basketry, furniture making) are a source of additional income (Tangonan, 2008: 57). 60 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

Yam (3 varieties), native taro

Forest, swamps, river, kaingin farms, backyards1 Wild tomato, wild bitter gourd, wild beans, Mountain slopes, forest, swamps, river, wild eggplant, fern, wild spinach, native springs, kaingin farms, backyards, cabbage, etc. forests, swamps, river banks Banana, mango, wild lychees, wild berries, Forest, mountain slopes, kaingin farms, guava, rambutan, pineapple, raisin, backyards apple, palm fruits, papaya, etc. Wild pig, wild cat, birds, rat, deer, python, Mountain forest, springs, swamps, rivers, other snakes, wild chicken, monkey, wild wilderness rabbit, wild mice, bat, python, wild dog, ducks, turtle, etc. Tilapia, mudfish, catfish, million fish, frog, Rivers, swamps, mountain forest, kaingin tadpole, wild dove, wild duck, owl, egret, farms robin, etc. All kinds2 Mountain forest, river banks, kaingin farms, wilderness Locusts and other insects Mountain forest, rivers, kaingin farms, wilderness Wild honey, local raisin, molasses, etc. Forest, wilderness

Sources

2 Indigenous names in this and other categories can be found in the report.

1 Kaingin farms are in the uplands where slash-and-burn methods are used.

Natural sugars

Insects

Mushroom

Fish and birds (meat/eggs)

Animals

Fruits

Vegetables

Root crops

Types of foods Food items

Table 2.17. Wild food resources available in the uplands (Tangonan et al., 2008: 43-44).

Throughout the year but mostly during the dry season

Throughout the year but mostly during the rainy season Throughout the year

Throughout the year but more are caught during the rainy season

Throughout the year but more during the rainy season as they seek refuge in the residential areas

Throughout the year but more abundant during the wet season

Throughout the year but more abundant during the wet season Throughout the year but more abundant during the wet season

Season/time of utilization

 2. Diversity of food systems and foods

61

62  Throughout the year but more available during dry season Throughout the year but more available during wet season During the dry season and the crop’s season

Kaingin farms and flat land farms1

Kaingin farms, backyards, swamps

Part rainy, part dry season Throughout the year but mostly harvested during the dry season

Throughout the year

Kaingin farms, backyards Small fish ponds Kaingin farms and backyards

During the dry season and the fruit tree’s season

Kaingin farms, backyards

Kaingin farms, backyards, river bank

Season/time of utilization

Production sites

1 Kaingin farms are upland farms where slash-and-burn methods are used.

Fish Natural sugar

Meat

Fruits

Vegetables

Baguio beans, carrot, Irish potato, taro (roots, leaves, stalks), sweet potato tops, bottle gourd, sponge gourd, bitter gourd, bell pepper, pigeon pea, papaya, jute, eggplant, okra, winged bean, banana blossom, tomato, water spinach, Chinese cabbage, squash, string beans, garlic, onion, etc. Avocado, pineapple, banana, guava, star apple, papaya, pomelo, jackfruit, rambutan, tamarind, cherry, coconut, etc. Chicken, pig, dog, cow, water buffalo, duck, turkey, goat, goose, horse Tilapia, cat fish and mud fish Sugar cane

Various types of upland rice, and lowland rice (R-60, C-18, C-40), various varieties of sticky rice, maize, sorghum Sweet potato, ginger, cassava, taro, etc.

Cereals

Root-crops

Food items

Food types

Table 2.18. Food items produced according to site and season (Tangonan et al., 2008: 48-49).

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.19. Primary source of income of respondents in the three villages (Tangonan et al., 2008: 55).

Primary source of income

Villages

Total

Maamot

Dueg

n

n

Farming Kaingin farming1 47 Flat land farming 16 Both kaingin and flat land farming 5 Employment Policeman 1 Hired labour Construction worker 1 Mason 1 Bakery shop helper 1 Total 72

%

Labney %

n

%

N

%

66 23 7

65 6 3

87 9 4

42 24 8

57 32 11

154 46 16

70.0 21.0 7.0

1

-

-

-

-

1

0.5

1 1 1 100

74

100

74

100

220

100.0

1 Kaingin farms are in the uplands where slash-and-burn methods are used.

Wives play an important role in almost all productive activities, aside from their role as wife and mother. In rice farming, women plant, weed, clean, harvest and dry the harvest. They have vegetable gardens in their backyard, raise animals, may operate a small store, sell food items, make charcoal, and so on. In decision-making in almost all matters, the wives actively participate and are nearly always consulted by their husbands. The children play a role in the search for food and income as well. Children who do not go to school could be observed fishing in the river, gathering banana blossoms in the forest, collecting junk for sale, gathering firewood, helping their parents on the farm and doing many other things. Food expenditures vary between 31% (dry season) and 34% (wet season) of all household expenditures, clothing 9%, fuel and light between 13 and 11%, education between 8 and 12%, while other expenses are on health, house improvement and vices (presumably gambling, a favourite pastime in rural Philippines). Most of the food expenditures are on rice, next on cooking oil and spices (Tangonan, 2008: 41-42). Rice, fish, vegetables, and boiled banana or root crops comprise the typical food combination for the three income groups in the uplands. Infants are generally given rice, rice broth or porridge, milk and bread and soft and nutritious fruits (banana, papaya, etc.) and root crops Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

63

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

(potato and sweet potato). The researchers list a number of food taboos or food restrictions, as well as the types of foods eaten at life cycle rituals and other special occasions. Food considered wrong for pregnant and lactating women include banana, sardines, papaya, squash, sour food, round fruits and seeds, eggplant, beef, ginger, eggs, and bottle gourd. The reason given for the restrictions vary. Recommended foods include chicken soup, lizard, milkfish, leafy vegetables, shellfish, milk, bitter gourd, porridge, and exotic meat (Tangonan, 2008: 51). In the interviews with household members as well as those with key informants, the people told the researchers about the problems they encounter. Poverty is stated to be the overriding problem. Major causes of poverty given are low farm productivity and marketing problems, lack of alternative sources of income, and inadequate services provided by governmental and non-governmental agencies. Reportedly, low farm productivity is mainly caused by lack of finance for necessary inputs. One can borrow from private money lenders, but at high rates of interest. Natural calamities add to the problem; heavy rains, floods, and storms erode the soil and destroy standing crops, leaving farmers helpless. Furthermore, there is a lack of technical know-how to control and manage insect pests and diseases attacking the crops. The farmers neither have sources of good quality seeds and planting materials nor the know-how for proper storage, preservation, and post-harvest processing of their surplus products. Inadequate water supply and lack of irrigation systems prevent proper utilization of the farms and make a second yearly rice crop impossible. The land is just left fallow. For lack of good market connections, upland farmers are forced to sell their produce to wholesale buyers at very low prices. Because most upland farmers have little formal education, they cannot get better paid nonfarm employment, and wages for unskilled labour are too low to sustain a family. The people have only limited access to health services and are dependent on indigenous healers. There are insufficient sources of potable water and the physical infrastructure in all three villages is most inadequate. Roads are dilapidated, most of them impassable during the rainy season. In one village there is no electricity at all. In the other two villages there is, but not in all households. Security of land ownership is another issue. Only few farmers had been issued Certificates of Stewardship for their land. Most farmers work on land that has the status of government reservation, which makes cultivating it very insecure. Educational opportunities for the upland children are absent or deficient. Only Dueg has facilities and teachers for secondary education. In the other places there is only a primary school or none at all. The majority of children, particularly among the Aeta, do not continue their education beyond primary level. Prevalence of vices (gambling) was also mentioned as contributing to poverty (Tangonan, 2008: 91-95).

64 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

2.2 Diversity of foods As discussed and illustrated above, food systems are embedded in different agro-ecological environments and cultures, comprising diverse patterns of food consumption and food preferences. In this section the focus is on diversity of foods. By foods I mean real foods or ‘ordinary foods’, not industrially produced and commercially marketed food-like substitutes. In his manifesto against the modern food industry and the Western diet, Michael Pollan (2008) urges his readers not to eat anything their great grandmother would not recognize as food. In this section ‘real foods’ are the topic of discussion, notably wild foods and soybean products. However, in the case of wild foods we might encounter the reverse of Pollan’s rule, namely that it is the younger generation who does not recognize them as food and that knowledge about these foods is slowly disappearing. 2.2.1 Wild foods Food gathering is part of the livelihood and food system referred to as hunting and gathering. In Indonesia’s so-called outer islands and in the mountainous areas of the Philippines there used to be many groups of hunters and gatherers. The Mentawai in West Sumatra (see above) also were hunters and gatherers, and these activities still provide for part of their food intake. The lingering cultural importance of hunting is evident from various instances: important ceremonies are followed by a hunting party; boys are ritually introduced to hunting when they are about five years old; and men still display their hunting trophies. The Tarlac study on the food system of an upland community in the Philippines (see above) shows that in the uplands a wide range of foods can be gathered from the forest, mountain slopes, swamps, river banks, and so on (Table 2.17). In most of Southeast Asia, gathering wild foods may seem to be in decline. In research on food security and nutrition this activity is usually overlooked as a possible source of food, and when not asked about it, people will not mention it even if they do engage in this activity. However, gathering wild foods could be wider spread than just among relatively isolated minority groups or mountain people. Even in agricultural and peri-urban areas there are places – such as the borders of fields, river banks, roadsides – that can be searched for wild foods, though these will not make up an important part of the collectors’ regular menu. In a research site in South Kalimantan it was found that people use lotus flower seeds to add to or substitute for rice when its supply will not last to the next harvest. The kind of lotus flowers that provides these edible seeds abounds in the swamps around their residence (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 99). The same study also reports the case of a poor carpenter’s family with five children. After he suffered a stroke, the children often had only one meal a day. To fill their stomach, they eat tamarind fruit, which they can pick up along the street (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 108).

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

65

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

In a research site in Northeast Thailand the local people consider wild foods a necessity rather than a supplement. Gathered wild foods represent 50% of the items comprising the local diet during the rainy season and 30% of those during the dry season (Setalaphruk and Price, 2007: 2). Using free-listing, 30 children were interviewed about their knowledge of wild foods. They came up with a total of 77 wild food plants and 86 wild food animals. Their knowledge was no less than that of adult women who were interviewed earlier in another study in the same area (Price, 1997). Among the wild food plants, the names of fruits were mentioned most frequently, supposedly because the children like eating them. Likewise, types of fish were most often mentioned in the category of wild-food animals, reflecting the local importance of fish in the diet and as a valued source of protein (Setalaphruk and Price, 2007: 4-6). Some gender differences could be observed in the children’s knowledge. For example, names of birds were only mentioned by boys because it is boys who hunt them. An Indonesian study on rural East Kalimantan also reported the importance of fish for the daily menu. The people are quoted as saying that eating fish everyday does not mean that they are rich. The fish is just there – in the river – to catch and eat (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 85). The research in Thailand shows that the adjective ‘wild’ should not be interpreted as haphazard, unregulated, or accidental. There are (unwritten) rules about gathering rights, of whom and where, which also indicates that wild food resources are monitored and managed (Price, 1997). The same is reported for rural Nepal in a study about the Gurung (Tiwari, 2007). In Nepal, as is the case in Thailand, it is women who are most knowledgeable about wild foods, especially plants, honey and small animals, and who are mostly engaged in collecting them. To them, these wild foods are important resources for feeding their families, spicing the meals they prepare, or making herbal concoctions as home remedies for minor ailments. Sometimes wild foods can be a source of cash, as in the case of wild honey. This is reported for the Baduy as well (Khomsan et al., 2009). Some food plants are semi-wild. People know where the plants are and may occasionally not only harvest but also plant them, though they do not regard them as a real crop. This is the case with a plant known popularly as ‘Job’s tears’ (coix lacryma-jobi Linn). It belongs to the grass family and is sometimes confused with barley. The plant grows at the borders of paddy fields. A study carried out in Benguet Province, the Philippines, documented the uses of and knowledge about the plant (Lirio, 2009). It was found that the grains are edible and eaten, nutritious, a popular ingredient of herbal concoctions for medical purposes, and also made into beads. Coix grains are not favoured by birds and weevils, and can be stored for several months after harvest. However, it was also found that persons familiar with the plant and its multiple uses were all older than 35 (Lirio, 2009). 2.2.2 The special case of soybean Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merril) products are an important part of the daily menu in East and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Soybean can be grown on dry fields as well 66 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

as on the borders of wet rice fields, or intercropped with rice. The total production of soybean in Indonesia in 2002 was 652,755 tons. To meet the need of soybean for human consumption and animal feed, the Indonesian government has to import it (mostly from the USA and China). In 2000, soybean imports amounted to 593,885 tons. According to figures of 1996 and 1997, utilization of soybean for food use in Indonesia was the highest among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (Muchtadi, 2007: 4). Muchtadi (2007: 1-5) reviews a number of studies that testify to the nutritional value of soybean. Among the legumes, soybean is unique in that it is both a source of protein (3540%) and fat (18%). The fat is nutritious because most of its fatty acids are essential ones. Soy contains several minerals and vitamins needed by the body. Soybean protein, consumed in the form of traditional products or as food ingredient in formulated foods, contributes significantly to alleviating protein and calorie malnutrition in many developing countries, especially in Asia. Soybean also contains several bioactive components that help to prevent degenerative diseases, especially coronary heart disease. However, the mechanism and bioactive component(s) of soy that decrease blood cholesterol levels are still disputed. Soybean components that are assumed or have been proven to decrease blood cholesterol level are: protein, fat (oil), dietary fibre, isoflavone, and phytosterol and phytostanol. In traditional soybean products, such as tempe, almost all of these components are present and consumed, while in other products such as tofu or soybean milk some of the components are lost during the processing. Recent research shows that soybean products also have anticarcinogenic activity and have positive effects on osteoporosis, kidney disease, and diarrhoea. They have also been linked to a low incidence of hot flashes during menopause. The study by Muchtadi (2007) investigated the processing and preparation, acceptance, consumption, and nutritional value of a number of soybean products. Figure 2.1 shows the different processed and non-processed soybean products in Indonesia. Tempe is made by a fermentation process using a pure culture of Rhizopus sp. or a mixed culture with an inoculant. During fermentation, the fungi grow throughout the cooked

Whole soybean

Fermentation

Tempe Tauco Soy sauce

Non-fermentation

Tofu Soybean milk Yuba

Germination

Soybean sprouts

Figure 2.1. Processed and non-processed Indonesian soybean products (Muchtadi, 2007: 5).

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

67

2. Diversity of food systems and foods

soybeans and form a white compact cake. Tempe is produced mostly by small (household) industries. Soybean processing is also a source of income for numerous tempe producers all over Indonesia. Urban and rural populations, especially in Java, consume tempe as a part of their daily menu. As a source of protein, tempe is consumed in greater quantities than other protein sources. It is not consumed as a raw food but cooked, steamed, fried or roasted, and served as a delicacy or a side dish. It is mostly served at home as domestic food and by street-food vendors. Tauco is another fermented soybean product traditionally produced in Indonesia, especially in West Java. There are two stages in the fermentation process: first, it is fermented like tempe; second, salt (bacterial) fermentation. Tauco is a semi-liquid product and is used as a flavouring agent in cooking tofu and meat. Like tauco, soy sauce is also produced by using two stages of fermentation, but in soy sauce production the fermented beans are pressed and only the filtrate is used, while the pressed cake is used for cattle feed. There are two types of soy sauce produced in Indonesia: sweet (with palm sugar added) and salty soy sauce. Soy sauce is used as flavouring agent in different kinds of cooked foods. Tofu, soybean curd (tahu in Indonesian), is as popular as tempe and consumed in many different forms (fried, boiled and steamed) throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Soy milk is produced by grinding soybean in plenty of water and then filtering it. Soy milk is not very popular in Indonesia and only recently has its consumption increased, especially in large cities. Yuba is made from a film formed during cooking soy milk, which is dried and then sold. This most expensive soy food product is used in Chinese cuisine. Soybean sprouts are rarely found in the market and consumed in Indonesia, because mungbean sprouts are more popular. Tempe and tofu are the most popular soybean products. Their popularity clearly shows in the answers from household heads and wives (Table 2.20). The positive appreciation of these important soybean products is, fortunately, shared by children of primary school age. The answers of female teenagers – future mothers! – show the same pattern for tempe, but not for tofu. Hopefully, the latter will change when they have children of their own. No significant relationship between consumption of soybean products and nutritional status was found among adult females, adult males, and the elderly. As for the pre-school children, there was a significant correlation between consumption of soybean products and nutritional status based on the index of BW/A (weight for age) with a correlation coefficient of 0.058 (P=0.018) and the index of BW/BH (weight for height) with a correlation coefficient of 0.064 (P=0.009). This was also found for children of primaryschool age. Testing the correlation between soybean consumption and nutritional status showed a significant result for nutritional status based on BW/A (correlation coefficient 68 

Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change



2. Diversity of food systems and foods

Table 2.20. Acceptance of tempe and tofu by different categories of respondents (Muchtadi, 2007: 29-40).

Soybean products

Tempe

Tofu

Acceptance categories

Dislike Neutral Like Like much Never eaten Total Dislike Neutral Like Like much Never eaten Total

Category of respondents Household heads

Household wives

Primary school children

Female teenagers

N

N

N

N

%

4 18 206 117 1 346 20 220 105 1 2 346

1.2 5.2 59.5 33.8 0.3 100.0 5.8 63.6 30.3 0.3 0.6 100.0

%

30 1.4 95 4.6 1,141 55.3 794 38.5 3 0.1 2,063 100.0 37 1.8 100 4.8 1,242 60.2 679 32.9 5 0.2 2,063 100.0

%

10 0.4 98 4.7 1,190 57.2 779 37.5 2 0.1 2,079 100.0 21 1.0 100 4.8 1,257 60.5 696 33.5 4 0.2 2,078 100.0

%

22 1.9 61 5.3 678 58.8 390 33.8 3 0.3 1,154 100.0 26 2.3 62 5.4 712 61.7 349 30.2 5 0.4 1,154 100.0

0.108, P=0.000) and BW/BH (correlation coefficient 0.129, P=0.000). As for the female teenagers, the consumption of soybean products is also significantly positively correlated with nutritional status (correlation coefficient of 0.109, P=0.043), but not for the male teenagers (Muchtadi, 2007). 2.3 Conclusion This chapter presented a cook’s tour on livelihood and food systems in Indonesia and the Philippines. It shows how households in diverse ecological, social and cultural environments generate livelihoods to provide for basic needs. People diversify to spread risk and generate the much needed extra income, both on the farm and in combining farm, off-farm and non-farm activities. On-farm diversification shows in intercropping and mixed cropping systems. Almost everywhere in the two countries rice is the most preferred staple and maize comes second, but roots and tubers are important as backstop. In the case of a specific ethnic group like the Mentawai, who used to be hunters and gatherers, taro and sago are staple crops, but even among them rice is increasingly associated with modernity and high social status. Baduy culture centres around rice, but rice on dry fields. Irrigation is a cultural taboo. Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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The possibilities and opportunities for profitable farming are determined by the quality of the ecological and institutional environment, the connection with markets, and by the household’s access to other resources, such as knowledge (through agricultural extension) and finance (micro credit) to support agricultural activity. Labour is the most important resource for poor households. It is often their only resource apart from their social networks, especially the network of kin. In mountainous areas such as the research sites in the Tarlac study, foods collected in the wild are still important. However, according to the local people, the wild food resources are declining. Apparently, in the village in Northeast Thailand they are not. They are still a substantial part of the menu and even children are knowledgeable about wild foods. The overview shows the diversity in the ways households provide for their basic needs in different environments. While food needs in terms of adequate intake of calories and micronutrients are basically the same for people everywhere, the ways of procuring food and food preferences differ substantially. Somewhat unexpectedly, the study that compared household income and nutrition of rural and urban households, showed rather minimal differences. Preferences for soybean products also hardly differed between the two types of households. Their consumption was slightly higher in urban than in rural areas, which could perhaps be attributed to urban people being better informed about the positive nutritional value of soybean. However, the finding about the Baduy that the best informed and educated Baduy group, the Muslim Baduy, had a lower nutritional status than the far less informed and educated Outer Baduy, seems to contradict the assumed relationship between nutritional knowledge and nutritional status.

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3. Vulnerability: age and gender This chapter will look at the differentiating effects of age and gender on food and nutrition vulnerability. As demonstrated in Chapter 1, vulnerability is a multi-layered concept. In relation to food and nutrition, intrinsic vulnerability as a function of life-course related or biological characteristics, is an important component of overall vulnerability. In the case of age as a differentiating variable, vulnerability becomes an issue in those phases in life during which persons wholly or partially depend on others for meeting their food needs and, additionally, may have specific dietary requirements. In this sense, infants, young children and the elderly are more vulnerable than persons in the other phases of the life course. The physical condition of pregnant women and lactating mothers also warrants special attention and care with regard to their food and nutrition requirements. These issues will, therefore, receive ample attention in this chapter. In several ways, gender is a key variable regarding vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity. Though women often don't get their fair share of control over productive resources, in their capacity as wives and mothers they are – more or less universally – expected to feed their families. In a poor household, husband and wife have to struggle to provide the means to feed the household’s members. Women may contribute to the household income by doing paid work or engaging in other income-generating activities. One should keep in mind that in the studies reviewed the poor households are the large majority, and that women in such households do paid work not by choice but by necessity. Whether or not engaged in economically productive work, a woman’s position as the provider of food and care for her children is a fairly constant given in poor and well-to-do households alike. This often leads to a situation in which women may not have sufficient means to perform satisfactorily as food providers and caregivers. However, adult women also have capabilities and can exercise agency. The same context that circumscribes women’s ideologically and culturally underpinned gender roles may also provide them with manoeuvring space to solve problems of food shortage. In this chapter’s part on gender we will review the empirical evidence pertaining to these issues. However, this special section on gender does not mean that gender is not involved in the issues discussed in other chapters. All the various aspects of the dynamics of food and nutrition security are gendered (Niehof, 2003). 3.1 Age 3.1.1 Infants: breastfeeding and complementary feeding Based on the results of formative research, already since almost a decade the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding of infants up till the age of six months (WHO, 2001). Exclusive breastfeeding supposedly strengthens the immune system of the Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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infant and prevents its exposure to the possible bacterial contamination of prepared foods and not properly sterilized bottles. Hence, exclusive breastfeeding for six months should ensure infants a good start in life. While not disputing this, the recommendation does raise questions of feasibility. From my fieldwork in Indonesia I have retained a vivid image of mothers using their thumb to push soft foods (mashed banana, for example) into the tiny mouths of their infants of only a few months old. These mothers were still breastfeeding, and they would go on doing so until the baby would be 12 to 18 months old or even older, unless another pregnancy would prevent them from continuing breastfeeding. Giving additional foods to their baby was – and is – customary, and they would feel bad if they would not do so. A number of the studies reviewed touch on the subject of infant feeding. One study specifically addresses the feasibility of implementing the WHO recommendation in practice an urban setting. The findings will be discussed in this section. The studies on Indonesia show that giving complementary foods to young infants (two to six months old) is still common practice. In a study comparing poor and non-poor households in the districts of Bogor and Indramayu in West Java (total sample size 751) it was found that virtually all mothers had breastfed their last child. In the four sub-samples the percentage of mothers breastfeeding for more than 24 months varied between 39.8% (non-poor households Indramayu) and 59.7% (poor households Bogor). Breastfeeding for 12-24 months varied between 27.4% (poor households Bogor) and 30.1% (non-poor households Indramayu). And breastfeeding for less than 12 months varied between 12.9% (poor households Bogor) and 31.1% (non-poor households Indramayu). At the same time complementary food was already introduced to infants under four months old by 62.7% of the Bogor mothers (poor and non-poor households taken together) and 78.5% of Indramayu mothers. At the age of four months, 87.7% of Bogor infants already had been given complementary foods, usually porridge (Mudjajanto et al., 2006: 131). The following quotes reveal the same pattern. ‘Complementary food was introduced at 0-2 months, starting with milk (fresh cow’s milk and/or infant formula), followed by banana, papaya, porridge, and nasi tim (soft rice) at 3-6 months, and towards the end of the first year the family diet’ (Alisyahbana et al., 2006: 71). Schmidt (2001: 62): ‘During the first months of life, 80% of the infants were exclusively breastfed; however this proportion decreased rapidly with age. The average age of exclusive breastfeeding was 1.96 months. […] The small proportion of mothers that breast-fed exclusively or predominantly after 6 months postpartum were mostly mothers that had returned to exclusive or predominant breast-feeding after having tried unsuccessfully to introduce food to their infants. Most infants were first introduced to liquids, fruit (often banana) and biscuits, while foods such as rice, vegetables, tempe [fermented soybean cake] and snacks were introduced at a later age.’ The research of Alisyahbana and Schmidt was, like that of Mudjajanto, also conducted in West Java. However, also given my own observations during my fieldwork in Madura, East Java (1978-1980 and 2004), I would say that the practice of complementary feeding at ages below six months is still very common, not only in West Java but in Indonesia as a 72 

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whole. The study of Balatibat in lowland and coastal areas in the Philippines reveals a similar pattern. Few mothers breastfed exclusively, also during the first months, and complementary foods (mostly rice, fruit and eggs) were given to the infant when still under five months of age (Balatibat, 2004: 83-84). In the light of these findings the research project by Wibowo et al. (2008) on exclusive breastfeeding by working and non-working mothers in Depok, Jakarta, became quite a challenge. The study design included a cross-sectional survey to measure the magnitude of the problem and the level of exclusive breastfeeding among working and non-working mothers, and to assess factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Based on the two criteria of first, EBF or not, and second, working/non-working, the total sample of 419 counted four categories, distributed as follows: EBF mothers: 49, of whom 8 did paid work and 41 did not; non-EBF mothers: 370, of whom 159 did paid work and 211 did not. A sub-sample was taken for the qualitative part of the research, in which certain questions were followed up. Fathers, extended-family members, and the midwife or other health personnel were interviewed as well. The study found that the overall percentage of EBF mothers was 11.9, and that EBF prevalence was significantly lower among mothers who did paid work (4.8%) than among those who did not (16.6%). Furthermore, over 90% of mothers in both groups were well informed about EBF. Slightly less than 80% believed that EBF infants were healthier, but only 26% had a favourable attitude towards EBF (Wibowo et al., 2008: 3). Additionally, 63.2% of all respondents believed that breast milk alone is not sufficient for an infant up to six months of age (Wibowo et al., 2008: 38). An explanation for the fact that mothers doing paid work practiced EBF significantly less could lie their hours of being away from home. Of all mothers doing paid work, those not practicing EBF were absent for 10 hours a day, and those practicing EBF were away for 8.5 hours, but the difference is not significant. The weekly figures are 54.0 and 42.5, respectively. Being long hours away from home has a negative impact on the practice of EBF. Three working mothers interviewed in the qualitative study, said that their being away from home for work reduced their ability to produce enough breast milk because they were tired already. One mother mentioned that she could express breast milk twice during office hours, but feeling that it was not adequate, she supplemented the breast milk with formula milk. Another mother said that she used to be away for ten hours a day. She thought that giving formula milk in her absence was acceptable, because she still breastfed before leaving for work and after getting home (Wibowo et al., 2008: 28-29). The extent to which the environment supports EBF is an important factor in being able to do it. The father/husband was found to be the most supportive figure for breastfeeding, both for mothers with paid work and those without. All eight EBF mothers with paid work practicing EBF mentioned that for them their husband was the most supportive figure. The father as the most supportive person was significantly associated with EBF practices in the group of mothers with paid work, but not in the group mothers without paid work. All Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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EBF mothers engaged in paid work, were employed in the formal sector. None were selfemployed, though one would expect self-employed women to be more flexible in finding time for child care and EBF. However, in this study the EBF mothers with paid work were all very determined and confident about EBF. Only one of them was allowed to bring her baby to the workplace. None of the workplaces had a room that could be used for breastfeeding. In the qualitative study one mother mentioned that her office hours were quite flexible and a fridge was available so that she could go for a few minutes to express her breast milk and keep the milk in the fridge. Another mother mentioned that she could bring her baby to work and breastfeed during working hours. However, this mother admitted that her colleagues did not support EBF and criticized her for not intending to give her baby any solid food before the age of six months. Women had said to her: ‘You are very stingy, your baby is already five months old and you haven’t given her any food’, or ‘In the old days babies were given food since they were born and look, they are fine now, strong and healthy’ (Wibowo et al., 2008: 44-46). For many mothers, especially for those with jobs, following the WHO recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding until the baby is six months old, does not yet seem feasible and acceptable. The empirical evidence points to the persistence of the tradition of giving infants complementary food from the age of two to four months. Only well-informed mothers who have a supportive environment can muster the determination to practice EBF, even if friends and colleagues may reproach them for it. 3.1.2 Children’s food intake and nutritional status For assessing children’s nutritional status it is customary to distinguish between pre-school children (<5 years old), children of primary school age (5-12 years old) and children over 12. Most studies concentrate on the first two groups because children at these ages grow fast and – at the same time – depend upon the caregiver for their food needs. They are more vulnerable to malnutrition than teenagers. Children under five years old are particularly vulnerable, which makes the adequacy of care very important. This section will discuss the findings on children’s food intake and their nutritional status as documented by a number of studies. The role in this of the children’s primary caregiver, mostly the mother, is discussed as well. At the end of the section attention will be paid to a particularly vulnerable group of children, namely street children. In a study among 52 Karo (Batak) and 87 Minangkabau mothers in Jakarta, with children aged 6-36 months, the researchers looked at the effect of care quality on the children’s nutritional status (Frebruhartanty et al., 2005, 2007). For assessing quality of care they used the HOME checklist for measuring psychosocial care of infants and toddlers. The HOME checklist consists of 45 items of psychosocial care practices divided into six subscales that measure various aspects of care. Although there are differences between the children according to ethnic background (more Minangkabau children being underweight and 74 

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wasted), the overall psychosocial scores did not significantly differ between the ethnic groups. More importantly, ‘quality of psychosocial care had no significant association with the children’s nutritional status’ (Frebruhartanty et al., 2007: 298). It is also noteworthy that overall scores of the Karo and Minangkabau mothers in Jakarta were much higher than those of the rural mothers with the same ethnic background (Frebruhartanty et al., 2005). In the study of Balatibat among lowland households in Laguna and coastal households in Leyte, in the Philippines, the two groups of households differ not only in socio-economic characteristics, but also with regard to the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting of children aged 6-36 months. A higher percentage of children from the relatively poorer coastal households tended to be underweight (40.6 versus 26.9), stunted (27.3 versus 19.9) or wasted (12.1 versus 7.1) than those from lowland households. The influence on children’s malnutrition of a household income below the poverty line proved to be statistically significant for coastal households only (Balatibat, 2004: 86, 91). Balatibat found differences in nutrition adequacy of food intake not only between the two types of households, but also between pre-school children and school-age children. Irrespective of seasonal variation, in the lowland households the nutrient intakes of pre-school children, except for protein, were below RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance). Four out of 20 pre-school children examined were underweight. In the coastal households the nutrient intakes of all household members were dramatically poor, and seven out of 17 pre-school children were underweight. Energy and nutrient intakes were inadequate for all selected household members, except the schoolchildren. On average, the schoolchildren in both areas met their calorie and protein requirements better than the pre-school children (Balatibat, 2004: 163, 171). In her research in Alegre and Plaridel in Leyte province, in the Philippines, Roa found the average percentages of adequacy (RDA) for almost all nutrients to be alarmingly below the national level (both sets of figures based on data from 2003). When the two villages are compared, the adequacy levels for all nutrients4 are better in Alegre than in Plaridel, in spite of Alegre’s lower per capita income. According to Roa, the most plausible explanation is the important contribution to the daily menu provided by home gardens more of which are found more in Alegre than in Plaridel (Roa, 2007: 241). The same picture emerges with regard to nutritional status measured by anthropometric indicators. In Alegre, the percentages of children who were underweight, underheight, or thin are 10.2, 44.4, and 1.6, respectively, while the Plaridel percentages were 56.6, 54.0, and 23.9. However, children aged 5 to 12 are relatively healthier than those under 5 years of age, despite the latter doing better in terms of nutrient intake. Apparently, nutrient intake of children under five is not effectively translated into nutritional status. Roa attributes this to morbidity, which weakens the body and affects nutritional status; short-term morbidity was found to be higher among children under five than among schoolchildren (Roa, 2007: 251). 4 Measured: energy, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, Thiamine, Riboflavin and Niacin.

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In a study of households with pre-school children (n=37) and schoolchildren (n=36) in the city of La Trinidad, Benguet province, in the Philippines, the children’s nutritional status and the mothers’ role in children’s nutrition adequacy was assessed by a survey, a 24-hour food intake recall, and focus group discussions (Blijham et al., 2007). Contrary to the findings of Balatibat (2004), the pre-schoolers in the La Trinidad sample were doing better than the schoolchildren in terms of meeting the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) with regard to energy, protein and vitamin C, though not with regard to vitamin A (Blijham et al., 2007: 201). The study of Gayao et al. (2004) was conducted in the same region as that of the Blijham team (Benguet, in the Philippines). Although the study is about the significance of sweet potato cultivation, processing and consumption for household income and family nutrition, it provides data on differences between nutritional status of pre-school children (aged 2 to 6) and primary schoolchildren (6 to 12). The total sample was 90 households. The percentages of pre-school children meeting their energy and protein requirements are generally lower than those of the schoolchildren. On adequacy of vitamin A, vitamin C and iron, all children score dramatically low. One of the objectives of the research of the NPRCRTC5 team is to stimulate the production of sweet potato snacks as an income-generating activity for poor households and to increase vitamin A intake, especially of children. An experimental study in Vietnam addressed the problem of iron deficiency in schoolchildren by trying to identify the sort of snack that would serve well as a vehicle for iron fortification. The researchers conclude that fortified instant noodles present the best option, although problems remain: the noodles’ affordability for the parents and the iron leaking away from the noodles into the soup (Huong Thi Le et al., 2007). A study among 399 pre-school children in the district of Semarang, Central Java, showed that two months of vitamin A supplementation resulted in significantly higher retinol levels and better height-for-age scores of the recipient children (Pangaribuan, 2003: 40, 41). Although children’s ability to fend for themselves can be assumed to increase with age, also among older children some categories are particularly vulnerable because of their circumstances; street children for instance. In 2002, a team of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Philippines carried out a study among street children in Manila (Bacos et al., 2005). According to 1996 study, their number was 43,629. Today there must be many more. Sample size in the FNRI study was 300. The ages of the children in the sample ranged from 8 to 15, the median age being 12.5 years. 30% of them were female, 70% male. Three groups of street children could be distinguished: first, those who were still home-based; second, those who were street-based and staying with family; and third, those without a family or home to go back to and having adopted the street as their home. Groups 1 and 2 comprised 75%, group 3 comprised 25%. The children live, with or without family, 5 Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Centre.

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in underground walkways, along sidewalks, in market stalls, or in dilapidated jeepneys or trucks. For some, home is the wooden pushcart which they sleep in at night and use to store scavenged scrap to sell during the day (Bacos et al., 2005: 9). The book by the FNRI team provides a penetrating insight into the lives of street children. It shows their vulnerability, but also gives glimpses of their strength and resilience. Street children are faced with daily threats to their food security; meals are irregular and often late. ‘Unless one has earned or begged for money, meals can be missed’ (Bacos et al., 2005: 36). Smoking, drinking and using drugs (sniffing solvents, for example) are common practice among the children, as a source of comfort and temporary relief from their problems. At the same time, the children learn how to keep out of trouble, which persons to avoid, and how to manage and allocate their meagre income. Quite a few still have mothers or other relatives to fall back on, to whom they may give part of their earnings. Altogether, a street child’s life is a hard one that lacks comfort and security, but in terms of nutrition the street children in the sample appear to be doing alright. At least in this sample (the researchers warn against generalizing the findings) the street children showed normal weight levels for their age group and were not malnourished (Bacos et al., 2005: 1). The research among street children in the city of Banding by a team from the Indonesian Education University (Patriasih et al., 2009) yielded a different picture. In the sample of 232 boys (mean age 14.2) and 92 girls (mean age 12.3) on average 10 to 15% of the children did not meet their recommended dietary allowances. Weight-for-age was inadequate for 42.7% of the children and height-for-age was inadequate for 80.4% of the children, indicating a high level of stunting (Patriasih et al., 2009: 62). Additionally, 46.0% of the children suffered from acute respiratory infections, 25.1% from diarrhoea, and 20.9% from skin diseases (Patriasih et al., 2009: 60). The children have mostly dropped out of school and earn money by various activities, such as singing in the street and washing cars. 3.1.3 Food and nutrition security of the elderly Given the evolving and accelerating process of population ageing in Southeast Asia, which is more prominent in Indonesia than in the Philippines, one would expect more studies on the consequences that ageing has for social security and wellbeing of the elderly in this part of the world. Apart from the publications on ageing by John Knodel (Thailand), Gavin Jones (Southeast Asia), and occasional articles on ageing in Indonesia by Indonesian demographers (like Wirakartakusumah), not much on the subject can be found until the late 1990s. The early paper (1992) by Hugo that describes the situation of elder persons in rural West Java, is rather exceptional. Hugo (1992: 214) is struck by ‘the loneliness, poverty and deprivation of older widows and never married women who lived on their own and often had to rely on the charity of the community to survive’. The recent book on social issues and policies in relation to ageing in Southeast Asia, edited by Lee Hock Guan (2008), is very useful, but it does not present recent empirical data based on fieldwork. Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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In this section I shall discuss the main findings of the research by Keasberry carried out in the province of Yogyakarta Special Region during the late 1990s. This province was chosen as the research site because its fertility decline between 1967 and 2000 had been more rapid than average in Indonesia (60.4% versus 53.6%) (Keasberry, 2002: 54). The villages studied were Kebonagung (district Bantul) and Giriwungu (district Gunung Kidul). From both villages there is a lot of rural-urban migration – circular or permanent – and much commuting (mainly to the city of Yogyakarta). Effective sample sizes for the surveys in the two villages were 194 (Kebonagung) and 203 (Giriwungu). Of the 397 respondents 42 could not be personally interviewed, leaving 355 respondents with whom the researcher and enumerators could directly communicate. Apart from the survey, 12 detailed case studies were done and insights were gained through participant observation. The study defined persons aged ≥55 as elderly. The sex ratio in this group was 69.7 (about 70 women per 100 men) (Keasberry, 2002: 145). With regard to co-residence with children there were differences between the villages (significantly more co-residence in Giriwungu) and between the sexes (significantly more men than women co-residing with children: 81.0 and 72.6%, respectively). Significantly far less women than men are married (48.5 versus 84.6%) and 47.1% of the women are widowed as compared to only 10.7% of the men in the sample (Keasberry, 2002: 148). For assessing the nutritional status of the elderly, the questions in the survey were based on the Australian Nutrition Screening Initiative (ANSI) (Lipski, 1996) and adapted to the local situation. According to the ANSI criteria, only 5.3% of the respondents had good nutritional health (score ≤3), 12.7% were at moderate nutritional risk (score 4-5) and 82.0% were at high nutritional risk (score ≥6) (Keasberry, 2002: 149). As Keasberry (2002: 150-151) comments, the ANSI checklist is useful, but that it is difficult to make a good assessment. However, it could be observed that many older persons only eat twice a day, skipping lunch when they are alone in the house, and eat meals with low nutritional value and taste. They often eat cassava or rice with a side-dish of watery soup with some leaves, and a piece of tempe (fermented soybean cake). The majority of the respondents (89%) said not to worry about a lack of food; if there is no rice, there is always cassava. When disaggregated by age into three age groups (55-64, 65-74, and 75+), the nutritional health scores significantly decline with age, as do the scores for functional IADL6 capacity (Keasberry, 2002: 170). Of the elder men 62.3% and of the elder women 28.1% are still engaged in farming or in another income-generating activity (11.1 versus 14.5%). The food crops cultivated differ according to village. Rice is the main crop for both (73.7% in Kebonagung and 92.6% in Giriwungu). Available irrigation in Kebonagung allows for three rice harvests a year, while the limestone soil in Giriwungu permits only one. Soybean is cultivated in Kebonagung by 55.7% of the farming elderly, in Giriwungu only by 6.4 percent, although the variety of crops cultivated is greater in Giriwungu than in Kebonagung (Keasberry, 2002: 172, 182). 6 IADL: Instrumental Activities for Daily Life.

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Keasberry (2002: 330) concludes that among the elderly, women over 75 constitute the most vulnerable category. Women are more likely to live alone and childless older persons are more likely to be women. If women do receive monetary support, it tends to be less than that received by men. The oldest elderly people are also more likely to live alone or to be widowed and the households with the oldest elderly members receive on average the least monetary or material support. 3.2 Gender 3.2.1 Food, nutrition and childbearing Sufficient and nutritionally adequate food intake is crucial for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as for the pregnancy outcome and child survival. Micronutrient deficiencies of pregnant women affect intrauterine growth of the foetus, entailing consequences for the baby’s birth weight and subsequent development. Iron anaemia and vitamin A deficiency are common in pregnant women. Muslimatun (2001: 17) lists studies testifying to chronic deficiencies of energy, iron and vitamin A among Indonesian women. She also says that the absence of positive trends in height of women, particularly rural women, suggests that conditions have not improved. Two Indonesian studies were conducted in the district of Leuwiliang, West Java (from November 1997 to November 1999) to address in particular the effects of iron and vitamin A deficiency on pregnant and lactating women and their infants. The first one (Muslimatun, 2001) focuses on the effects of supplementation on pregnancy, lactation and the weight and length of the neonates. The second (Schmidt, 2001) looks at the effects of maternal nutrition on the growth and health of the infants. Indonesia has a national programme for daily iron and folic acid supplementation for pregnant women. The two studies set up an additional regime of supplementation: one group of pregnant women was supplemented weekly with extra iron and folic acid; the second group received the same plus vitamin A; and the third group (control group) was given only the standard national programme supplements. The groups were matched as much as possible with regard to relevant characteristics. The total sample size at the start was 366 pregnant women, resulting in 328 live births. At the end, the complete biochemical data of 190 women at near term were available and the development of 222 infants could be monitored till the age of four months. Main findings from the study of Muslimatun (2001: 108-109) are: • Weekly supplementation with iron and vitamin A (as in the second group) improved haemoglobin concentrations but not significantly. • Neither weekly nor daily iron supplementation reduced anaemia prevalence. • Weekly supplementation with vitamin A and iron during pregnancy improved retinol concentrations in breast milk. • The additional supplementation did not influence neonatal weight and length.

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• Low maternal nutritional status (BMI) during pregnancy and lactation was associated with household characteristics reflecting low socioeconomic status. Schmidt (2001: 96-97) formulates the following conclusions: • Supplementation with vitamin A and iron did not reduce the prevalence of anaemia during pregnancy and did neither affect infant growth, iron status, morbidity, nor their mental or psychomotor development. • There were no differences between the two treatment groups with respect to iron status, nutritional status, or development of infants. • Vitamin A intake from breast milk was probably too little to build up adequate stores in infants. Schmidt also observes that growth faltering of infants starts at about six months of age and that the influence of maternal weight during pregnancy is indirect. Maternal nutrition during pregnancy influences neonatal weight and length, which in turn affect infant growth and nutritional status – in terms of a favourable or less favourable start in life. In the Philippines as well, iron anaemia and vitamin A deficiency are matters of concern. Gayao et al. (2004), Balatibat (2004) and Roa (2007) refer to studies of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute in Manila that reveal widespread micronutrient deficiency. The Ministry of Health provides several micronutrient supplementation programmes. For pregnant and lactating women these include vitamin A, iodine and iron supplementation (Gayao, 2004: 5). However, the two Indonesian studies discussed above show that the effects of supplementation should not be overrated. Alternative solutions are fortified foods and menu changes. While some progress has been made with regard to the first, menu changes anywhere are always difficult to realize. The Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Center (NPRCRTC) in La Trinidad, Benguet, and the Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Center at Leyte State University (PRCRTC) try to enhance the cultivation, consumption and processing of sweet potato, because of its importance as a source of vitamin A. For farmers and processors it can also be a source of household income (Gayao et al., 2004). Also UPWARD7 has for many years been active in promoting and supporting research on sweet potato cultivation, processing and consumption. If in general food consumption habits are difficult to change, this applies especially to pregnant women. Pregnancy and childbirth are critical times in a woman’s life course that are physically demanding. In many cultures they are also perceived as potentially dangerous transitions that should be accompanied by rituals (rites of passage), food restrictions and prescriptions to ward off supernatural danger. Among the Madurese in Indonesia, pregnancy is seen as unfolding in stages. During the first stage certain foods that are classified as ‘hot’ 7 UPWARD

stands for Users’ Perspectives with Agricultural Research and Development. It is based in Los Baños, the Philippines and affiliated to CIP (Central Potato Institute) in Lima.

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(durian, for example) have to be avoided and foods classified as ‘cool’ (e.g. papaya) eaten, to make sure the foetus is not expelled and can grow. ‘Hot’ and ‘cool’ do not refer to the temperature of the foods but to their alleged physiological effects. At seven months the pattern is reversed. For fear of the foetus becoming too big and causing a difficult delivery, the pregnant woman should not eat ‘cool’ foods (Niehof, 1988). A study conducted in the Minangkabau area of West Sumatra investigated food restrictions for pregnant women in a Javanese community (Rudito and Susena, 2007). Although most Javanese did not cling firmly to their own culture, with regard to pregnancy and childbirth they followed the old Javanese traditions. Based on interviews with pregnant women and key informants like the traditional birth attendant (TBA), the researchers documented a long list of forbidden foods. Some are forbidden because they are ‘hot’, fibrous, or thorny, like fermented rice or cassava (tape), durian, pineapple, jackfruit, petai (a bitter-tasting bean), others because of their habitat (river crabs and shrimps), and some fruits and vegetables because of having many seeds. For the latter reason among the Madurese eggplant is forbidden; eating it would increase the risk of a multiple birth. Catfish and eel are forbidden because they are believed to make the child adopt their unfavourable characteristics. Some foods should not be eaten after the seventh month of pregnancy because they are believed to cause a difficult birth. A snack made of fried cow or buffalo skin is forbidden because it is thought to lead to retention of the placenta at birth. For the same reason the rice crust that sticks to the cooking pot after the rice has been taken out, should not be eaten. Pregnant women should generally be careful with eating meat and should not eat eggs. At seven months pregnancy the mitoni is staged, a ritual led by the TBA and involving the ritual meal (slametan) with family and neighbours. The authors describe it and mention the foods consumed at this occasion (Rudito and Susena, 2007: 78-81). 3.2.2 The vulnerability context of women’s food and nutrition security A context of pervasive and continuing poverty will seriously affect women’s own nutrition and health status as well as their capability of performing their culturally underpinned reproductive roles as mothers and providers of food and care. To a certain extent poverty is contextual, for example because of living in an ecologically fragile environment or in an institutional environment that favours the rich and the powerful, or having no access to markets, electricity or health facilities. Such external factors affect household livelihoods and in this way poverty is manifested, enacted and dealt with as a problem at household level (Brons et al., 2007). This multi-level interface of poverty factors explains that households can move in and out of poverty and that – as a scholar on poverty in India noted – ‘quite different things are happening in different villages and also in different households’ (Krishna, 2004: 126). In this section I shall look at the different pictures that the reviewed studies yield with regard to the linkages between contextual poverty and household livelihood and food insecurity, and how these affect women’s gender roles.

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The following are some examples of indications of the linkages between poverty, food insecurity and nutritional status found in the studies under review. In a study comparing 374 poor and 376 non-poor households in the districts of Bogor and Indramayu in West Java, it was found that food-insecure households had a consistently and significantly lower average of intake of energy (calories) and micronutrients than food-secure households. Accordingly, the food-insecure households were less able to reach the level of daily nutrient requirements (Sukandar et al., 2006: 27). A different analysis of the same sample yields the results presented in Table 3.1. The BMI classification shows a tendency for men and women from non-poor households to be more often overweight (BMI>25), but otherwise the differences between poor and non-poor households do not seem to be significant, although they are better visible when the categories are further refined (see Riyadi et al., 2006: 35-36). The differences are most pronounced for Indramayu women. For almost all types of households, women are doing better than men in terms of BMI, and again in Indramayu the differences are more pronounced than those in Bogor. More detailed data can be found in Khomsan et al. (2005). In her research in two villages in Leyte, Roa found a greater percentage of women than men with normal weight-for-age and height-for-age measures and women tending to be more overweight than men. She attributes this to men’s more physically demanding work (Roa, 2007: 252). The researchers in a study among poor and non-poor households in two types of regions in rural Subang (West Java) found a similar pattern. The first type of region is dominated by horticulture, the second by rice cultivation. The sample size for each region was 261. In both regions there were definite differences between husbands and Table 3.1. Distribution according to body mass index (BMI) categories of men and women from poor and non-poor households in Bogor and Indramayu (%) (Riyadi et al., 2006: 35-36).

Location and BMI category

Bogor BMI<18.5 BMI 18.5-24.99 BMI>25.0 Indramayu BMI<18.5 BMI 18.5-24.99 BMI>25.0

82 

Poor households (n=508)

Non-poor households (n=236)

Men

Women

Men

Women

14.3 77.5 8.2

12.3 72.5 15.2

15.9 73.8 10.3

9.5 65.9 24.6

11.0 77.7 11.4

11.3 66.4 22.3

9.1 70.9 20.0

6.4 56.4 37.2

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wives regarding nutritional status as measured by body mass index (BMI). The percentage of underweight husbands (BMI<18.5) exceeded that of wives: 14.2 in the horticultural and 15.9 in the rice-growing region, while for the wives the corresponding percentages were 10.1 and 9.6. In both regions the percentage of overweight wives (BMI>25) exceeded that of husbands: 27.5 in the horticultural and 38.1 in the rice-growing region, while for husbands the corresponding percentages were 10.9 and 9.6 (Suhanda et al., 2009: 84-85). This raises questions about the validity of the BMI value over 25 as an indicator of overweight for Southeast Asian women. Balatibat (2004) studied the linkages between food and nutrition security in lowland and coastal villages in the Philippines. Her findings testify to the fact that livelihood security does not directly translate into food security, nor does the latter do so into nutrition security. She notes that indeed among households reporting food shortages the majority had an income below poverty level, but that in the income category of 100-149% poverty threshold, 47% of lowland households and 41% of coastal households also reported to be food insecure. As she says: ‘These findings imply that increasing income alone does not always guarantee adequate food on the table. It also indicates that income is a poor indicator of food security’ (Balatibat, 2004: 175). Furthermore, she observes that, corrected for seasonal differences, the overall quality of the diet is poor, particularly in the coastal area, implying ‘that even in households that did not report food shortages, nutrition security was not achieved’ (Balatibat, 2004: 176). Hence, non-poor households are not necessarily food secure and food-secure households not necessarily nutrition secure, but the probability that they are is greater than for poor households. With regard to maternal nutrition, Muslimatun (2001: 109) concluded that low maternal nutritional status (BMI) during pregnancy and lactation was associated with household characteristics reflecting low socioeconomic status (see Section 3.1.1). To look at the role of women in achieving household food and nutrition security, Balatibat (2004) used Moser’s (1993) framework of women’s triple role: reproductive, productive and community work. When women engage in income-generating work (productive role), it usually has a positive effect on household food security and nutrition, because women’s income tends to be spent more on food than men’s (cf. Quisumbing et al., 1995). Though their mean monthly income was considerably lower than that of their husbands, in Balatibat’s study the mothers with paid work claimed that most of their income was spent on food, health and household necessities (Balatibat, 2004: 152-153). For women, more than for men, the trade-off between spending time on productive and reproductive activities will be attained at the expense of leisure time and/or time spent on childcare. Table 3.2 on time expenditure by men and women in lowland and coastal villages summarizes Table 8.1 in Balatibat (2004: 151). It shows that women with paid work hardly spend less time on domestic work, and their husbands only slightly more. Hence, overall working hours of women with paid work increase. Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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Table 3.2. Time expenditure (N hours) of men and women in hours (6 a.m. until 8 p.m.) in lowland and coastal villages in the Philippines (Balatibat 2004: 151).

Type of household and activity

Lowland

Coastal

Men (n=7) HHs with women doing paid work Total market work 6.50 Total domestic work 1.22 Total working time 7.72 HHs with women not doing paid work Total market work 6.56 Total domestic work 1.02 Total working time 7.58

Women (n=7)

Men (n=7)

Women (n=7)

4.41 4.50 9.31

7.23 2.09 9.32

5.41 6.02 11.43

1.05 5.44 6.49

6.02 1.54 7.56

1.00 6.13 7.13

Roa (2007) in her study of households in Alegre and Plaridel in the province of Leyte, the Philippines, finds both similarities and differences with regard to gender roles in food provision. In Plaridel there are more income-earning opportunities and more non-farm micro-enterprises than in Alegre, always managed by the wife. Hence, in Plaridel women contribute more to the household income and seem to have a greater say in its allocation, whereas Alegre scored better than Plaridel on all anthropometric indicators (Roa, 2007: 251). However, Roa (2007: 232) notes that ‘the resources generated by both male and female from income, regardless of who controls them […] are often just barely enough for meeting basic needs.’ Roa (2007: 233) concludes that ‘resource generation, allocation and use are gender-specific, viewed from the perspective of a socio-culturally accepted norm of equity. Mostly decision-making is in the end consensual.’ A special category of mothers with paid work are employed at the Malabar, Purbasari, Talun Santosa, Sedep and Rancebali tea (and quinine) plantations in the district of Bandung, West Java. They are the subject of Sunarti’s (2008) study. Most of the plantations have insurance schemes and medical and educational facilities for their workers and their families. In Sedep there is a day-care facility. Such big plantations resemble the ‘total institutions’ as referred to in the sociological literature. These provide a range of services to meet the needs of their (captive) clients. The study shows that the women interviewed have a close relation to the plantation where they work; 74% of the husbands work there as well, and at the time of the survey, also 14.2% of their mothers and 9.6% of their fathers, while 25.4% had other relatives working on the same plantation. Almost all respondents (98%) lived in plantation housing. Picking the tender tea leaves is regarded to be particularly suited to deft female hands. It is not considered suitable work for men. However, the scarce literature on women tea pickers 84 

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indicates that they have to work hard, are poorly paid, and are in a dependent and powerless position vis-à-vis the men who check their work, which may give rise to male-to-female exploitation and even abuse (Grijns, 1987; Wattie, 2004). The study was carried out in 2007. For the survey, the sample sizes were 93, 90, 69, 93, and 146 from the five plantations under study (in the same order as above). Respondents were women tea pickers with at least one child under six years old. For data on food consumption the 24-hour recall method was used. Anthropometric measurements were done on children. Although the key question addressed by the study was the effect of the mothers’ working circumstances on the social and emotional strength of their families and the nutritional status and development of their children, here I shall highlight the findings related to the well-being of the mothers. The average age of the mothers is 32.9. Their level of education is low – only 1.2% has more than nine years of education and 10.4% is illiterate – though the husbands’ level of education is not much better. Average family size is rather small (56.6%≤4). It is important to note that the mothers on average contribute 43.2% of the household income. Of all household expenditure 72% is spent on food. In the sample, 24.8% of the households had a total income was below the BPS poverty line8, and 83.8% had an income under one US dollar a day. On average the mothers work 6.9 hours a day, ranging from 4.00 to 8.00 hours, 5.9 days a week. They generally go to work at 6.00 a.m. and are home by 4 p.m. Apart from salaries there are various fringe benefits for the workers at the plantation, such as access to health services, free (61.6%) or at a reasonable price (42.4%), and access to day care for pre-school children. The day-care facility is particularly important, given the mothers’ long working hours. Of the respondents 54.2% used it, the others left the children with other family members at home. Although the study reports that female workers are entitled to pregnancy leave, it does not specify how long this is and whether there are supportive facilities for lactating women workers (Sunarti, 2008: 5/1-14). With regard to food consumption, only 54.4% of respondents had three complete meals a day (rice plus side dishes). Asked about problems they had experienced during the six months prior to the survey, 19.6% mentioned a conflict with the husband and 53.6% of the mothers mentioned difficulties in looking after the children. Negative experiences included antagonistic feelings towards the husband (53.4%), fear of being divorced by him (45.0%), and feelings of guilt about taking care of their children (56.4%). As far as feelings of satisfaction, 73.4% of the mothers were satisfied with their husbands’ income, 88.4% with the food they can afford and 89.0% with the house they live in. Almost all mothers (91.4%) said they often feel worried about the future (Sunarti, 2008: 7/4-5). While clearly the mothers are fairly well satisfied with the material conditions of their life, they are worried 8 The Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (BPS) yearly sets region-specific poverty lines. The 2007 BPS poverty line

for the district of Bandung was a monthly per capita income of 144,204 rupiah. See also Section 5.1 on this issue.

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about the relationship with their husbands, and about being a good mother to their children. The extent to which these feelings are caused by their full-time jobs can only be determined by comparison with a similar group of women who do not have a full-time job and are asked the same questions. These data are not available. However, this group of women seem to pay a price for their hard work, though its results are indispensable to the household income. 3.2.3 Women as caregivers and food providers As the women working full-time as tea pickers have doubts about their ability to take good care of their children (Sunarti, 2008), the question is to what extent women’s reproductive role as caregiver is compromised by their being away from home when they work so many hours a day. In her study in Alegre and Plaridel, for the mother’s time allocated to home and personal care Roa (2007) found a highly significant positive impact on children’s intake of nutrients. She cites from an earlier study in the Philippines showing women’s time allocation to have significant effects on the nutritional status of their children. Roa (2007: 244) concludes that ‘low family income may force women to seek wage employment resulting in reduced child or household welfare’. On the other hand, poor households cannot do without the women’s contribution to the household income through paid work. Another study carried out in the Philippines (Rola et al., 2002) cited by Roa, concludes that the higher the share of productive time compared to reproductive and leisure time, the more food secure the household is. These findings prompt the questions of how the productive and reproductive responsibilities and work are divided between men and women and the extent to which different patterns of the gender division of labour make a difference for the children’s nutritional status. Balatibat’s (2004) study of lowland and coastal households in the Philippines did not yield evidence of a positive effect of women’s employment and income on household food and nutrition security. Balatibat (2004: 172) concludes that in poor households the income contribution of wives with paid work does not ‘lead to significant improvements in the household food and nutrition security in general, and that of women and children in particular. Presumably, in poor households the situation is already so critical that the women’s contribution to the household income is too little to make a difference.’ Based on the case studies, she further notes: ‘Although the numbers are too small to permit any generalization, our results seem to point to a negative relationship between women’s employment and food consumption and nutritional status of herself and her children.’ Only in lowland villages, vitamin A adequacy percentages – for all household members – are higher in households with employed women as compared to those without (Balatibat, 2004: 170). The fairly dramatic findings of Roa, Balatibat and Sunarti present a picture of women in poor households who have to work for the food and nutrition security of their households, but whose contribution to the household income actually does not make much of a difference, and whose paid work may even negatively affect the quality of childcare and their children’s 86 

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nutritional status. On the other hand, if they would not do paid work, their household’s situation would be worse. Regarding the father’s role, Wibowo et al. (2008: 43) mention that significantly (P<0.01) more husbands of employed mothers than of non-employed mothers, 29.2 and 16.6% respectively, help in taking care of the baby (carrying it and playing with it). For assistance with household chores the situation is reversed: husbands of employed mothers assist less in this than those of non-employed mothers, the percentages being 29.2 and 32.0 respectively, but the difference is not significant. The study on care and nutritional status of children aged 6-36 months in different ethnic groups (Karo Batak and Minangkabau) but all living in Jakarta, shows involvement in childcare of fathers irrespective of ethnicity (Februhartanty et al., 2007). Education may play a role in women’s competence as caregivers. Roa (2007: 268) found the mother’s level of education to be a highly significant factor in the nutritional status of all children, while her nutrition knowledge had a significant effect on the nutritional status of children aged 5 to 12 only. Dasgupta et al. (2008), found maternal education to be strongly related to the positive changes in anthropometric traits that reflect nutritional status among school boys in Calcutta, India, between 1982 and 2002. The study by Pangaribuan in the district of Semarang in Central Java found significantly better scores for weight-for-age and height-for-age of preschool children of mothers with more than six years of education, compared to children of mothers with six years of education or less (Pangaribuan, 2003: 37). The study on childcare given by Karo and Minangkabau mothers in Jakarta (see Section 3.1.2) assessed quality of care by using the instrument of HOME. The researchers found mothers’ education and total HOME score to be significantly and positively related in both ethnic groups (Februhartanty et al., 2007: 298). When controlled for education, ethnicity did not make a significant difference in the mothers’ competence as caregivers. A study among 73 households in an urban community in La Trinidad, the Philippines, concludes: ‘It was found that the mothers have considerable knowledge about healthy food and good ways of storing and preparing food, higher-educated mothers more so than lower-educated mothers’ (Blijham et al., 2007: 202). The ways in which food is distributed within a household and the role the mother plays in its distribution, will also affect the nutritional status of the household members. Balatibat (2004: 171-172) found the fathers to have consistently higher nutrient adequacies than the other household members, because the mothers prioritized the food intake of the father as breadwinner. Balatibat attributes the poorer level of nutrient adequacy of preschoolers as opposed to school-going children to the younger ones apparently losing out in the competition for food, without their mothers being aware of that or being able to do much about it. The La Trinidad study confirms the mother’s role as the person in the household who takes the decisions on purchase, storage and preparation of foods (Blijham et al., 2007). While in this study, as opposed to Balatibat’s, the pre-schoolers are doing better than the school Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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children (see Section 3.1.2, above), the overall nutritional status of all children leaves much to be desired. The mothers appear to be aware of this and seem to be quite well informed about nutritional matters. However, the mothers’ mediating role in enhancing the children’s nutrition adequacy is limited, because they do not fully control the children’s food intake. Employed mothers have to leave the children to the father or other relatives to look after when they are not home. Depending on their age, children may spend a lot of time outside the home as well, perhaps eating snacks that affect their appetite. At dinner, the children are generally not much disciplined. They can more or less eat or reject what they want and leave the table as they please. The researchers say: ‘Even when at home, we could observe that mothers cannot enforce adequate eating practices on their children’ (Blijham et al., 2007: 202). Apart from the mothers’ extent of control, it has to be noted that, especially in urban environments like La Trinidad, children are exposed to other factors that affect their food preferences and consumption, such as peer-group pressure and media messages (cf. Taylor et al., 2004). The mother’s role in food provision and distribution is part of her reproductive role that also comprises care and bringing up children. So as to do this well, women need a social environment that supports their decision-making and action in their domain as well as the means and resources to carry out their task satisfactorily. The study on the workers at the tea plantations showed how hard it may be for women to reconcile the performance expected from them with their actual situation, which leaves them little time and energy to be good mothers. It is perhaps because of this that the mothers, according to the researcher (Sunarti, 2008: 7-10), have major flaws in their ‘parental styles’. The parental style of 47.6% of the mothers is characterized by negligence or indifference, 19.2% expresses hostility or aggression towards the child, and 33.4% shows rejection. The study of Pangaribuan (2003) among 399 pre-school children and their caregivers revealed that in the rural sample (n=185) more than in the suburban sample (n=214) the grandparents also played an important role in taking care of the child. In the rural area, percentages of the mother as the main caretaker versus grandparents as the main caretakers were 73.0 and 18.9. In the suburban area the corresponding percentages were 81.9 and 10.2 (Pangaribuan, 2003: 30). Hence, as also the Blijham study shows (see above), it would be wrong to focus too exclusively on the mother when assessing the quality of childcare, although she definitely remains the key person. An intervention study in rural Nepal carried out by Helen Keller International, targeted mothers. The results show the effectiveness of using an integrated approach to enhance family nutrition through empowering mothers. The project package for the Mothers Community Gardening Groups included horticultural training, the means for its application in homestead food production, and nutrition education. The crops focused on were water spinach and yellow-fleshed sweet potato. Compared to the baseline data, at the end of the project women had significantly increased growing these crops, were significantly more knowledgeable on 88 

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their importance as sources of vitamin A and iron, and put them significantly more often on the menu for household consumption. With regard to decision-making on growing vegetables by the end of the project the roles of husband and wife had reversed: while at the start such decisions were predominantly taken by the husband, at the end of the project they were mostly taken by the wife. Additionally, while at the start of the project women could only keep and decide on the allocation of six and eight percent9 of the money from selling garden produce, at the end these percentages were 63 and 76, respectively (HKI, 2008: 22). In her discussion on gender responsibilities and decision-making power in domestic production in Alegre and Plaridel, Roa explains that the burden of financial responsibility first rests on the male, and that of child care, house upkeep, and food quality on the female. Women accept male authority provided that the man keeps his part of the deal: ‘So, in many cases, it is the woman who fights the man for not having done what he should do, or not being responsible enough’ (Roa, 2007: 232). This is more or less the general picture, although male authority is more explicit in Alegre than in Plaridel, where women contribute more to the household income and have a greater say in resource use. The Balatibat (2004) case studies of 20 lowland and 20 coastal Filipino households on decision-making by husbands and wives show that only three kinds of decisions are predominantly made by women: those on family expenditures, seeking food credit, and disciplining children. Interestingly, men decide on the choice of family planning and the desired number of children, which is quite different from the pattern found in Indonesia (Niehof and Lubis, 2003). As Balitibat (2004: 158) comments: ‘Men’s dominance in matters about family planning and the number of children reveal the influence of patriarchy and the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church.’ Balatibat’s study documents a number of differences between the lowland and coastal households, notably with regard to the woman’s economic role. In the coastal households women can decide on the proportion of the fish catches to be sold. This corresponds with Indonesian findings about the agency women in fishing communities can exercise in managing and controlling their household finances and in safeguarding the food security of their households (Niehof et al., 2005; Niehof, 2007; Zein, 2007). Similar findings are reported for a coastal community in Vietnam (Le Thi Kim Lan, 2008). Comparing Karo and Minangkabau mothers in the Jakarta study (Februhartanty et al., 2007: 298) shows the Karo mothers to have a more substantial role than the Minangkabau mothers in decision-making on childcare and managing family income. Given the fact that the Karo Batak have a patrilineal kinship system, with much authority vested in men, and

9 There

were two intervention groups. In the first a conventional approach was applied, in the second an integrated approach, which also included chicken rearing and was aimed at increasing egg consumption as well. However, with regard to the findings related here, there was not much difference in outcomes between the two groups.

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the Minangkabau a matrilineal kinship system, with culture favouring female control of resources, one would expect the reverse. 3.2.4 Responses to food insecurity If women are held responsible for their household’s food security, it follows that they are expected to take action and find a solution when the household’s food situation is critical. In this respect, it is noteworthy that, despite women’s little overall decision-making power in the cases described by Balatibat, seeking food credit is predominantly an area in which women decide. Coping strategies undertaken by women to address a food-insecure situation, can take several forms. Zein (2007: IX/8-9) mentions borrowing from neighbours and family, but mostly (46.1%) from the local shop (warung) at an undisclosed rate of interest. In my own fieldwork in a fishing village in Madura, Indonesia, in 2004 (cf. Niehof et al., 2005), I found women using a variety of strategies to meet the food needs of their households, especially during the west monsoon when the fishing boats cannot sail. Of the 241 respondents, only 30.3% reported no problems with meeting food needs, 17.0% said to be food insecure only during the west monsoon, and for 52.7% of the respondents food insecurity was a chronic condition. Table 3.3 lists the strategies used to increase food access. Table 3.3. Reported strategies to meet food needs in Pasean, Madura, 2004 (author’s unpublished data, Pasean household survey, 2004).

Reported strategies

% ‘yes’ answers

% of total response ‘yes’

Selling gold or jewellery Selling other goods Pawning gold or other goods Finding additional sources of income (work) Changing the menu. reduce food intake Placing child(ren) elsewhere Asking wife’s family for food Asking husband’s family for food Asking neighbours for food Asking wife’s family for credit Asking husband’s family for credit Asking distant relatives for credit Asking neighbours for credit Borrowing from the moneylender or boat owner Other strategies (e.g. using savings) N/Total

52.6 16.9 24.6 23.9 16.4 2.3 2.9 2.9 1.2 14.6 8.8 3.5 22.2 38.6 6.4 171

22.1 7.1 10.3 6.9 0.9 1.2 1.2 0.2 6.1 3.7 1.5 9.3 16.2 2.5 10.6 407/100.0

90 

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The study by the CPPS10 team also reports coping strategies of households, in this case women, to meet food needs. The research was conducted in 2004, in several areas in Indonesia: in the province of Central Java: the districts of Karang Anyar and Pemalang. In South Kalimantan: Hulu Sungai Selatan and Banjar; and in East Nusa Tenggara: Timur Tengah Utara and Kupang. The areas are quite different in terms of food procurement and human development indicators (see Chapter 2). These differences are reflected in the answers to the question about the need for coping strategies and the kind of strategies applied. Because in South Kalimantan only four respondents said to have had foodinsecurity problems, we shall leave this area out of the comparison. Table 3.4 presents the coping strategies reported by the households in the provinces of Central Java and East Nusa Tenggara that admitted having experienced problems with meeting food needs. In her research carried out in the district of Purworejo, province of Central Java, Usfar (2002: 43-45) documented the responses to food insecurity as a consequence of Indonesia’s economic crisis in 1998. The total sample size was 182 households. She distinguishes five Table 3.4. Reported strategies to meet food needs in Central Java and East Nusa Tenggara (Dwiyanto et al. (n.d.), data collected in 2004).

Reported strategies

Selling or pawning goods Finding additional work (income) Exchange (barter) Menu changes Reduce frequency of eating Reduce overall consumption Placing child(ren) elsewhere Seeking credit Change work or business N responses N respondents

Central Java

East Nusa Tenggara

Karang Anyar

Pemalang

Kupang

Timur Tengah U.

N

%

N

%

N

%

N

%

7 18 0 0 1 3 0 23 1 53 42

13.2 33.9 0 0 1.9 5.7 0 43.4 1.9 100.0

0 20 0 0 0 3 0 19 0 42 36

0 47.6 0 0 0 7.1 0 45.3 0 100.0

0 15 0 2 4 5 1 6 1 34 18

0 44.1 0 5.9 11.8 14.7 2.9 17.6 2.9 100.0

10 63 5 6 1 3 0 28 22 138 74

7.2 45.6 3.6 4.3 0.7 2.2 0 20.3 15.9 100.0

10 CPPS is the Center for Population and Policy Studies of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

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categories of responses: (a) income generation; (b) diet alterations; (c) getting immediate access to food; (d) getting immediate access to cash; and (e) taking drastic steps like migration, placing children elsewhere or splitting up the family. All categories are visible in the Tables 3.3 and 3.4 as well. The first category (a) includes responses typical of agricultural areas, like planting rice (n=117), garden crops (n=140) or vegetables (n=47). Eighty-eight respondents (48.4%) made dietary changes (b), mainly by eating lower-quality food (n=53) or by gathering or collecting foods (n=47). The latter was not reported for the areas covered by Tables 3.3 and 3.4, but is quite important in Northeast Thailand (Setalaphruk and Price, 2007). Category (c) shows a variety of responses, those most frequently mentioned (in order of frequency): participation in village activities for food (n=105); receiving a coupon for cheap rice from the government (n=100); asking for food at the children’s weighing centre (n=84); and asking food from relatives (n=33). The most frequent responses in Category (d) are: withdrawing savings or selling assets (n=45); selling small farm animals (n=40); and borrowing money (n=40). Only 27 respondents had taken drastic steps (e), mainly in the sphere of migration (n=19), including two cases of taking up work overseas. This overview of strategies in response to food insecurity as documented in several studies shows a diversity of responses, partly due to location-specific characteristics. Most of the reported strategies would be women’s responsibility to pursue, especially those that involve approaching family or neighbours for food support or a loan, changes in menu and food intake, and selling or pawning gold, jewellery, or household assets. Only the more drastic strategies that entail changes in family composition and strategies that involve finding other or additional work, would be matters of joint decision-making and implementation by wives and husbands. 3.3 Conclusion Age-related food and nutrition vulnerability is particularly manifest very early and very late in life. An infant’s first and best food is the mother’s breast milk. According to the WHO recommendation it should be an infant’s only food until six months of age. However, the studies under review reveal a deeply ingrained tradition in Indonesia and the Philippines of giving infants complementary foods from an age of about two months onward. The few mothers who try to practice exclusive breastfeeding up to six months may be reproached by their social environment for depriving their baby of the food it is entitled to. For employed mothers exclusive breastfeeding seems hardly feasible, due to the lack of facilities at the workplace to bring their baby or to express breast milk and keep it cool so that they can give it later. Pre-school children are also quite vulnerable because for their food intake they are still mostly dependent upon the care and competency of their mother or another caregiver. In all studies addressing the issue of the nutritional status of children, pre-school children were doing poorly in achieving their daily nutrient requirement, with predictable consequences 92 

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for their development. Schoolchildren were doing slightly better in some cases, perhaps because they were more able to fend for themselves. Children’s malnutrition appears to be not only a matter of poverty or the mother’s education or level of information about nutrition, but also of the degree of control the mother can exercise over the child’s food intake, which diminishes with the child’s age. In the studies reviewed there was only one that provided details about the health and nutrition situation of elderly persons, in this case aged 55 and over in rural Yogyakarta. It shows that these elderly still are quite active and generally not unhappy, but it also concludes that their daily menu is very basic (often deficient) and that especially the eldest women – most of them living alone – are the poorest and most vulnerable. Government policies addressing the issue of ageing should target this category as being particularly vulnerable. Several factors affect women’s food and nutrition vulnerability. Pregnancy and young motherhood are critical times for all women, irrespective of ethnic or socio-economic background. The two detailed studies on the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women in rural West Java, show most women to be deficient in vitamin A and iron. The studies also show that supplementing the iron tablets provided by the national programme, only has limited positive effects. It did not reduce the prevalence of anaemia, for example. In most cultures pregnant women are considered vulnerable and at risk. In many cultures this also entails food restrictions, which mostly do not help improve a pregnant woman’s nutritional status. The scope of the issue should perhaps be broadened to the food intake and nutritional status of all women in the younger reproductive age groups. If the issue is broadened to the food intake of women of certain ages in general, the vulnerability context of women’s lives has to be taken into account. All studies show the specific impact of poverty on women’s role as provider of food and care. Poverty and food insecurity compel women to take up paid work or other income-generating activities. If they do, the studies show their husband may be more involved in childcare but not in household chores, which women will still do the major part of. Hence, if the hours women spend on income-generating and domestic work are taken into account, employed women work longer days than their husbands. Paid work is done at the expense not only of their leisure and health but also of their care-giving role. The study of women plantation workers in Indonesia yields a dramatic picture of the Catch-22-like situation full-time working mothers may find themselves in. Especially when their household’s food security is in jeopardy, women exercise their agency to find solutions. The concept of agency plays a role in many debates in the social sciences, in which it is mostly put in opposition to the concept of structure. In the introduction to a special issue of the Australian Journal of Anthropology on women and agency in Asia (2007), the author notes that the papers in the special issue largely focus on poor women. She also remarks that the contributors to the issue do not use the liberal notion of Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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agency as ‘independent action […] ‘unburdened’ by cultural traditions and the irrationality of emotions.’ Instead, they address the agency of women ‘from within existing societal discourses and symbolic structures rather than in opposition to them’ (Hilsdon, 2007: 129, 136, emphasis in original). Although unlike the case of Filipino women no contribution is devoted to Indonesian women, this way of looking at agency narrowly fits the manner in which women’s role in household food security and children’s nutrition is dealt with in the studies under review. In particular their agency shows in the coping strategies women use to address urgent food needs of their households. This agency is enacted, however, within the prevailing culturally underpinned notions about women as wives and mothers. While in Indonesia the culturally accepted ideology of ibuism (cf. Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuis, 1987) permits the extension of the mother role to women in general, whether they are actually mothers or not, as well as its extension beyond the domestic domain, in the Philippines the mother role is restricted to actual motherhood and the domestic context. Hilsdon (2007: 133) characterizes the discourses of womanhood in the Philippines as represented both by Madonna imagery of chastity, marriage and motherhood, and by the alternative discourse of the ‘other Mary’. Clearly, for Filipino women in the studies reviewed it is from the first representation that they derive and are assigned their role model. However, this does not prevent them from actively pursuing their own and their family’s welfare, just like Indonesian women do.

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4. Institutions, policies, programmes and social change This chapter addresses the issue of institutions, policies and programmes designed to increase people’s access to food or enhance social cohesion and solidarity by sharing food, as is done by traditional institutions of food exchange. The chapter will present examples, mostly from the studies reviewed, that embrace the whole spectrum from indigenous cultural practices to formal government policies and programmes. It concludes with some reflection on aspects of the nexus of food, nutrition and social change. 4.1 Institutions Institutions can have varying degrees of formalisation. In this section I shall start by discussing traditional ways of food storing, especially of the staple rice, to provide food security for households and communities. In the past, community food storage also used to function as a safety net for the poor and the needy. I shall continue by highlighting practices of food exchange, some of which are traditional institutions referred to by local names, others represent forms of institutionalized behaviour subject to unwritten rules about entitlements and obligations. At the end of the section I shall look at the Indonesian arisan, a traditional institution of saving and borrowing that can help to ‘smooth consumption’, as economists would call it. 4.1.1 The rice barn In rice-centred cultures in Indonesian society, the rice barn is an age-old institution. In Chapter 2 the Baduy study was discussed. Rice cultivation on dry fields (huma), using slash-and-burn methods, forms the core of Baduy culture. After the harvest, the puun, the traditional leader of all Baduy, divides the rice yields according to strict rules. Part of the rice is stored in the collective barn, located in Inner Baduy, for future ceremonies. Another part, also kept in the collective barn, is set aside as a reserve for those who do not have enough rice of their own. Households also have their own storage facility. The Baduy’s household barns are called lenggang in Inner Baduy and leuit in Outer Baduy. Both kinds serve household consumption, but their construction differs. In the survey, Inner Baduy households proved to have 1.6 lenggang on average, Outer Baduy 1.2 leuit. Having one’s own rice barn, and preferably more than one, adds to your prestige in the community (Khomsan et al., 2009: 88-90). Hence, the Baduy rice barn contributes to food security, provides a safety net for those who cannot sufficiently provide their own rice (by production or purchase), and functions as a social status symbol. Food storage practices differ substantially across regions, as shown in the comparative study done in three Indonesian provinces by the team of the Center for Population and Policy Studies of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.). Households in East Nusa Tenggara and South Kalimantan have more abundant food supplies than those Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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in Central Java, even though the rice barn or lumbung is an old Javanese institution. The types of foods stored also vary. In South Kalimantan, farming households store only rice, whereas in East Nusa Tenggara rice is preferred, but maize and root crops are stored as well. In both regions rice is kept inside the house or in a barn. The respondents said they stored rice because of its fluctuating price and the high price during the lean season, and added that they felt secure when they had sufficient staple food to last them till the next harvest. A respondent said: We always keep the yields; then at least we don’t have to bother about buying rice. However, as usually happens, we will sell our rice for immediate needs like paying off our debts. (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 105). A traditional rice barn (lumbung) is now hard to find in Java. Despite its fertile farmland yielding two to three rice harvests a year, in the district of Karang Anyar no household rice barn was found. Most rice is sold on the spot (in the field). Only a few kilogrammes are taken home for family consumption. In the village of Jraganan in the district of Pemalang there was a traditional village rice barn. Jraganan agriculture is mainly rain-fed; the existing irrigation infra-structure is not working properly. The rice barn is managed by the village officials to ensure community food security. It is opened during the lean season to provide rice loans to farmers for household consumption, not to be sold for cash. The loans have to be returned in the form of rice as well (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 104-105). The case of Jraganan appears to be quite exceptional. Storing rice in barns is no longer common practice. For good storage the rice has to be properly dried first, and both drying and storing require space. However, as we shall see below, the Indonesian government is trying to reinstate the ancient institution of the rice barn in new programmes aimed at enhancing food security. In deciding on storing or not, rice price fluctuations are important. These prices and their control have long been a concern of the government and a subject of its policies. Village people in South Kalimantan have long known household rice barns called kindai, family storehouses. People in this region usually set aside their rice yield to provide for their food needs till the next harvest. In addition to the kindai, the local government has introduced zinc silos to store unhusked rice for the community. One silo can store up to ten tons. In practice, the silo model has not caught on as expected because Banjar people are not accustomed to collective storage of their crop yields (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 131-132). Until the 1970s, Timor in the province of East Nusa Tenggara had an old tradition of collective food storage. It was linked to the former kingdom. As tribute to the Fetor (king), farmers had to pay stipulated amounts of rice and maize, which were then stored in the royal storehouses. People with not enough to eat could borrow food from the storehouses, but had to return it in kind from the next harvest. The food storage pattern was continued when in 1972 the New Order regime occupied East Timor and installed the modern village administration. Food collection and storage practices were not so different from those 96 

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during the feudal Kefetoran era, but the concept of tribute was eliminated; though the Fetor still was entitled to a portion of the food collected. The storehouses developed during this era were known as lumbung desa (village rice barns) and were meant as a source of support to widows and the poor. By the end of the 1980s they were not functioning anymore. However, the tradition of collecting and redistributing food continued in another form, namely as arranged by religious institutions, especially the Catholic and Protestant churches. They require that at every harvest individual households should provide 10% of the crop yields or income to the church. Apart from collective storage, the people of Timor traditionally always had their own food storage. Around Kupang food is stored in a gudang, a permanent construction designed for long-term food storage and located close to the kitchen. The gudang is supposed to be stored with various foods for wedding parties or death rituals. Elsewhere in Timor the food storehouse is called lopo. It has the same function as the gudang, not only for single households but also for kin groups. The uem bubu storehouse has the same kind of function but it round. It has a round form. Originally not designed for food storage but to live in, the uem bubu storehouse now functions as the kitchen larder. Properly processed food can be kept in it for as long as two years (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 133-134). 4.1.2 Traditional food exchanges I started my introduction to this book by discussing the Indonesian slametan. The slametan is mostly staged by individual households to celebrate life cycle events (birth, death, marriage, circumcision) or other important events for the family concerned (like moving house), but it can also be staged by a community. An example of the latter is the rokat tasè in a Madurese fishing community, which was always organized at the beginning of the fishing season. The custom fell into disuse but was revived when for several seasons catches proved to be disappointing (Niehof et al., 2005). Such community slametan are also staged in ricegrowing communities at the start of the planting season or at harvest time. The importance of sharing a festively rich meal to enhance a special occasion is what both types of slametan have in common. In Java, especially in tight-knit communities, the slametan provided a way for people to have a good meal more or less regularly. Usually one would be at the receiving end, at other times one is the host. But also when hosting a slametan, to celebrate a life cycle event for example, the guests will often contribute in money or in kind. The Philippine studies (Balatibat, 2004; Roa, 2007; Tangonan, 2008) testify to the importance of the many yearly festivals; not only for enhancing a social cohesion but also for the opportunity they provide to enjoy good food and to exchange food with relatives and neighbours. In Indonesia the same applies to the Muslim holidays of Idul Fitri11 and, to a 11 Celebration of the end of the fasting month.

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lesser extent, Idul Adha12. In rural communities with a high level of out-migration, migrant villagers will try to come back to their own village for the most important festival or religious holiday, in this way strengthening the ties with their rural homes. In Madura, Indonesia, Madurese migrants from all over the archipelago come back to the island to celebrate Idul Fitri. Exchanging presents and sharing the special food with one’s relatives and neighbours occupy prime of place in the celebration. At the same time, Idul Fitri provides the occasion for arranging marriages, settling old scores and reconfirming social positions. As Manderson (1986: 15) noted, ‘it is in the exchange and public display of food at feasts and festivals that the politics of food come into full force.’ The Baduy have several traditional institutions for food exchange. It is customary for neighbours to contribute food to households conducting a life cycle ceremony. The host household is entitled to their neighbour’s support when having a family feast but also obliged to contribute when their neighbours have one. Another activity, called nganteuran or nyambungan, has a similar function, i.e. sending food to a family organizing a feast. This food, often chicken meat, is wrapped and hung by a rope in front of the family’s house of the family concerned, so that they do not know who brought it. The welfare of the Baduy community is also served by preparing laksa, noodles made from rice flour, on several ceremonial occasions. The rice for it is taken from special fields; the huma serang in Inner Baduy and the huma tuladan in Outer Baduy (see Chapter 2). If the supply is insufficient, rice from other fields can be added. Another social institution closely related to the food supply for the Baduy community is beas perelek. It is the rice donated to the village by the community for ceremonial activities. Beas perelek rice is collected from households. Each household sets aside a handful of cooked rice, and puts it in a bamboo container hung on the door pillar. The collected rice is the property of the village and ready for use when needed. Beas perelek rice is collected twice a month. At traditional communal ceremonies the villagers will eventually enjoy this rice together (Khomsan et al., 2009: 91-92). Chapter 3 provided examples of institutionalized patterns of behaviour that occur when households face a food crisis, which include asking relatives and neighbours for food or money. The word institutionalized implies that these patterns of behaviour result from certain unwritten behavioural guidelines or norms that are part of an underlying sociocultural grid. Taken into account in their application, are the kind of situation in which one is entitled to help or obliged to give it, in combination with the kind of social relationship between the persons involved in the exchange. In short, the support provided or given is based on existing relationships that more or less set the terms for what you can expect or what you are supposed to do. Such practices, which predominantly involve women, can be found all over insular Southeast Asia, but are reported for other parts of Asia as well (cf. Ali, 2005). Often these practices are referred to by local names, as in the case of the Baduy, which shows that we are dealing with institutionalized behaviour. Women’s prominent role in this 12 Feast of the sacrifice.

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kind of behaviour has to do with their culturally determined reproductive responsibilities and with the fact that women in many societies, including the ones under discussion, are ‘kin keepers’ (Hareven, 1982). They are expected to keep the family together and maintain good relationships with the relatives. 4.1.3 The arisan The arisan is the Indonesian version of a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) which can be found in many countries, in different forms (Ardener and Burman, 1995). ROSCAs and saving clubs are important instruments for the poor in managing their cash flows and getting access to larger amounts of money at a time (cf. Collins et al., 2009). Although varying in duration of the cycle, height of the contribution, number of participants and management rules, they have in common that the participants regularly contribute a certain sum and get paid the total amount of contributions once per cycle. This enables poor people to have access to a (relatively) large sum of money at one time. Most arisan, therefore, aim at enabling people to pay for occasional substantial items and services (such as household goods or children’s school fees) rather than for the daily food. In the Madurese fishing village of Pasean, however, there was an institution called arisan beras (‘arisan for rice’) that enabled poor people to have either rice or cash when needed. The arisan beras in Pasean In Pasean, as in other fishing villages (Kusnadi, 2001: 157-158), people are most creative in finding sources for borrowing money and getting themselves entangled in credit networks. Pasean is a regular money-go-round, in which debts are often paid for by new loans, creating endless chains of indebtedness. One element in this money-go-round is the so-called arisan beras, the rice-credit scheme. It works as follows. One of the rich women of the village, Haji S., buys up rice. On request, she provides 25 kilogrammes of rice, value Rupiah 60,000, to a household in need. In return the household has to pay her Rupiah 1000 every day for a period of 80 days. Hence, the profit for Haji S. is Rupiah 20,000. If the household needs one kilogramme of rice a day it will only have enough rice for 25 days, while the loan won’t be paid off for another 55 days. So the family must find twice as much rice as was bought from Haji S., and keep paying her for the rice already eaten. From a short-term food security perspective the advantage is that they have a secure supply of rice for about one month. It also happens that people in need of cash sell the 25 kilogrammes of rice back to the shop, for which they will get Rupiah 50,000 in cash. Four or five women in Pasean, who grew rich in the fish trade, run an arisan beras. They have a varying number of clients (Niehof, 2007). Every afternoon Haji S. and the likes of her make their round in the village, carrying a little notebook, to receive the daily instalments from their clients. Although the people refer to it as arisan, actually the arisan beras is not an arisan but a usurious credit scheme. The interest, however, cannot be regarded as interest only . It is also a fee for a service provided Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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by women like Haji S. As the authors on a book about survival of the poor say, ‘interest paid on very short-duration loans is more sensibly understood as a fee than as annualized interest’ (Collins et al., 2009: 22). From this perspective it is easier to comprehend why people refer to the rice-on-credit as rice arisan, while in fact it is not an arisan. By calling it arisan they make the practice part of an indigenous social institution, implying that it is a local thing and that no moneylenders from outside the village are involved. Research in the village of Malintang in the district of Banjar (South Kalimantan) yielded information about an arisan specifically meant to meet households’ need for being able to serve good side dishes at special occasions (arisan lauk pauk). The arisan had 37 members and had been functioning for over twenty years (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 132). 4.2 Policies and programmes 4.2.1 Indonesia’s food policies and programmes The report of Dwiyanto (n.d.) provides a comprehensive account of the policies designed by the Indonesian government to secure rice supplies for the nation and control the rice prices. In 1969, the Community Guidance Program (Bimas) was set up to encourage active participation of farmers in increasing rice production. It was part of the first five-year plan of the New Order regime. Bimas focused on improving farming infrastructures and technology, developing land cultivation techniques, monitoring pesticides usage, and providing farmers with loans. The government attempts to develop better rice farming systems paid off: in 1984 Indonesia attained rice self-sufficiency. During 1969-1994 there was a rapid increase in domestically produced food. From a rice importer Indonesia became a country that until 1994 was able to export crops, including rice (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 111). However, in terms of another important pillar of food security apart from food production, namely people’s food purchasing power, the second half of the 1990s proved to be rather disastrous. In 1997 the Asian financial crisis set in and from 1998 onwards, at the time when Indonesia was going through a political transition, the krismon – as the crisis was referred to – became an acute problem. Between 1996 and 1999 the proportion of food-insecure households13 in Indonesia increased threefold, from 5.16 to 16.08%. They declined in 2002 and 2005 (to 9.95% and 10.49%, respectively), but did not regain the pre-krismon level (Aringsih and Rachman, 2008: 242). To deal with the crisis and to protect the poorest from hunger and destitution, several programmes were put in place. The Rice for the Poor Program (RASKIN) was one of them. It was intended to provide poor households in poverty-stricken areas with cheap rice worth Rp1000/kg to improve the food security of the poor. 13 Household food insecurity is defined as a situation in which adult members’ food intake provides for less than

80% of energy requirements and the household is spending more than 60% of expenditures on food.

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In addition, the government encouraged the development of village rice barns, which had always greatly facilitated village communities in bridging food-insecure periods. When Indonesia’s rice production increased, the role of such storehouses diminished. However, as the economic crisis hit Indonesia and people faced difficulties in obtaining food, the government began to revitalize the rice storehouses. By decree no. 6/2001, the Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy officially supported the development of village rice storehouses. To maximize their role, the storehouses do not only serve as a storage facility, but also for processing, distribution and trading (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 112). Above, the example of the village of Jraganan was mentioned, where village officials actively tried to make the concept work. In 2001 the Food Security Council (DKP) was founded. It is responsible for formulating policies on food availability, distribution, consumption, quality, nutrition, and safety, as well as for evaluating and supervising the national food security development program. The DKP is represented at provincial and district levels. At national level it is the President’s responsibility, while at provincial level the governor and at district level the district head are responsible. In practice the councils face many problems, such as (a) the lack of a good mechanism for coordination among the stakeholders and (b) their relationship to the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2002, the Indonesian government once again underlined its commitment to solving domestic food problems by issuing governmental decree no. 68/2002 that specifically addressed the issue of food security. The decree clearly acknowledged the importance of food security within the national development framework. Four points are crucial to its implementation: farm productivity, management of the domestic product and the use of imports, management of food stocks, and food distribution. Government measures to enhance food security are: optimizing domestic farm production and productivity, and importing food supplies when domestic supplies are low or when the price is no longer affordable to the poor (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 124). While data indicates that food production already suffices to cover domestic demand, the government has continued to import rice, maintaining that the domestic food stocks are insufficient (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 114). In 1999 there were only seven provinces with a negative rice balance, which indicates a problem of distribution rather than supplies. There is another issue at stake here, namely the emphasis on rice as staple. Although rice is not the only known staple food in Indonesia, during the past decades Indonesians have been educated to think of rice as the only staple food they should eat. For proof, the authors of the report (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 116) refer to the province of East Nusa Tenggara. For most people in the province the staple food is maize, not rice. Rice production is low, but there are many local food sources, such as maize and various root crops. Because of the government’s interventions, especially during the New Order era, when planting rice was a must and food for the poor was always in the form of rice, people became accustomed to eating it. Now their diet is too dependent on rice. Since availability of rice is the national indicator of food adequacy, the province constantly shows deficiency in food availability. Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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Since 1969/1970, so as to stabilize domestic food prices and stocks, the Indonesian government has taken price stability measures. It assigned to the national food logistics agency Bulog the task to stabilize rice price and availability in Indonesia by managing buffer stocks and imports. Bulog is responsible for monitoring rice stocks throughout Indonesia, supervising distribution of domestic and imported rice, and buys rice from farmers at a regulated price. To what extent it is effective as a national food agency, is a matter of much debate. Suharto’s New Order regime increased rice production and stabilized rice prices in combination with installing a national family planning programme to bring down population growth, both seen as key elements in rural development. Timmer (1996: 49) notes that during 1969-1990 efforts to achieve this were largely successful; on average, rice production rose by 4.6% annually and the average annual population growth population rate during the same period was 2.1%. Bulog was responsible for implementing the rice stabilization policy, and did a good job. During the 1990s, with increasing instability of rice prices on the world market, the situation began to change. At the same time, the share of rice in the Indonesian economy declined. Timmer (1996: 70) concludes that historically Bulog had been successful in keeping rice prices more stable than market forces alone would have done, and that its activities ‘have been enormously profitable in social terms despite the smaller share of rice in the Indonesian economy’ (emphasis added). While Timmer’s conclusion relates to the macro level and was formulated before the onset of the economic crisis, Dwiyanto’s report (n.d.: 118) comments on Bulog’s current functioning at the farm gate level. Bulog requires the rice it buys from farmers at a fixed price (at least at Rp2,790/kg) to be dry and ready to go to the mill. However, because the main harvest time is usually in the wet season, farmers are unable to sun-dry their rice. The Dwiyanto study shows that in the two districts of Central Java farmers prefer to sell their rice during harvest straight from the field. In this way, they would not have to take the rice home and dry it themselves. They also have to return the money they borrowed to buy seeds and fertilizers. So they choose to sell their harvest at the earliest possible moment to earn cash as quickly as possible, even though it means getting a lower price. All this implies that only few farmers can meet the Bulog requirements and get a higher price for their rice. Many farmers still depend on merchants to whom they are indebted and who buy the rice when still on the field. To minimize the practice of selling rice directly after harvesting it, the government launched a programme aimed at delaying the sale. The DPM-LUEP is a village-level, agribusinessstyled agency to help farmers with loans so that they can postpone selling the rice and improve their bargaining position. It should assist farmers to store the right amount of rice at the right moment, so that they can compete better. One of the instruments is the modern village storehouse. The district of Banjar had one. It is one of the main rice producing areas in South Kalimantan, and its farmers are rather business-oriented. A major problem for them is the lack of space for drying the rice. The modern storehouse provides farmers with facilities to grind and dry their rice so that they get a better price for their crops. However, the DPM102 

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LUEP fund largely fails to reach the majority of individual farmers who are its target. In the research sites only a few farmers, mostly members of farmer groups, were able to benefit from the DPM-LUEP programme. However, the programme may eventually help farmers to get better prices for their rice and improve their bargaining position. In the district of Hulu Sungai Selatan (South Kalimantan) the local administration worked together with the village business institution (LUEP) to help farmers by making it compulsory for civil servants to buy local rice. In building food security, DPM-LUEP basically attempts to synchronize three major actors: the government, local business enterprises, and civil society, that is the farmers. When these work together, solving problems of price fluctuations and food scarcity stands a better chance (Dwiyanto, n.d.: 119-124). 4.2.2 The Indonesian posyandu The name posyandu is an acronym of the Indonesian words for integrated services post (pos pelayanan terpadu). According to the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics, the 1980s could be called the Posyandu decade, because these years saw the most effectively integrated provision of services in the fields of nutrition, immunization, mother-and-child care and family planning. Before the 1980s these services were provided for the same target group, but by various sectors at different times and locations. As could be expected, due to overlapping activities and sector rivalry, such services were not very efficient and effective. The nutrition services package of the posyandu includes: supplementary foods for children under five, pregnant women and schoolchildren; vitamin A capsules in high dosage for infants 6-11 months old, children under five, and mothers from soon after giving birth; supplementary iron tablets for pregnant women; iodine capsules for schoolchildren and pregnant women, particularly in endemic areas; monitoring the growth of children under five (by using a growth chart); and nutrition and health extension. In cases of severe malnutrition the help of the sub-district health centre (puskesmas) will be called in. The posyandu also provides immunization of children, and family planning and reproductive health services. The posyandu is staffed by volunteers who are members of the community (cadres), but most of the services are provided by medical professionals: the doctor or midwife from the puskesmas. Since its inception, the posyandu functioned as the spearhead for all the nutrition and primary health care services provided by the health centres. In this way, the posyandu links the local community to rural health centres and sub-centres, and reaches children and mothers who otherwise would remain deprived of care. In 1990 there were about 250,000 posyandu all over the country, on average about two to three posyandu per village. The nutrition services provided by the posyandu have had a significant positive effect on children’s nutritional status (World Bank, 1990). However, it is also widely acknowledged that the posyandu struggles with problems of inadequate cadre motivation resulting in high drop-out rates, and that its services are not yet optimally used (Khomsan et al., 2007).

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A group of researchers of the Department of Community Nutrition at Bogor Agricultural University investigated whether high or low attendance of mothers at the posyandu makes a difference for their children’s nutritional status. The research was carried out in a rural area in Cianjur, West Java. As Table 4.1 shows, the results seem to bear out the World Bank’s positive judgment of the posyandu. Children of mothers with a high level of posyandu attendance are doing better on all indicators than children of mothers with low attendance. Weight and height of children under five were measured and related to age. The table presents the z-scores of weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height of children aged 1 to 5 according to their mother’s posyandu attendance. In spite of the relatively positive scores for children of mothers with high posyandu attendance, the percentages of children with z scores less than minus two on the three indicators are still (too) high. When disaggregated according to sex, there are some differences. With regard to weightfor-age and height-for-age there are no systematic differences between boys and girls, but the prevalence of wasting (weight-for-height z<-2) is higher for boys (15.4%) than for girls (9.3%) (Khomsan et al., 2007: 60). The reasons the mothers gave for not coming to the posyandu were, from most to least frequent: being too busy; the child was asleep; the immunization of the child was completed (Khomsan et al., 2007: 74). Table 4.1. Weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores of children under five according to posyandu attendance of the mother (Khomsan et al., 2007: 50, 54, 58).

Nutrition indicators z-scores

Weight-for-age z< - 2 normal z> + 2 Height-for-age z< - 2 normal z> + 2 Weight-for-height z< - 2 normal z> + 2

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Posyandu attendance of the mother (%) Low (n=181)

High (n=119)

34.3 65.2 0.6

23.5 75.6 0.8

46.4 51.4 2.2

39.5 59.7 0.8

14.9 81.8 3.3

8.4 85.7 5.9

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4.2.3 Food policies and programmes in the Philippines Overviews of food policies and programmes in the Philippines are provided by Balatibat (2004) and Roa (2007). Roa (2007: 49-50) points to the traditional segregation of administrative responsibilities for food, nutrition and health. Food concerns are mainly delegated to the Ministry of Agriculture, reflecting the emphasis on food supply. The technicalities relating to nutrition and health are under the responsibility of the Food and Nutrition Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology. FNRI is currently the leading agency in food and nutrition research and development. Its mandate is the periodical assessment of the food intake and nutrition status of households and individuals. Health matters are the domain of the Department of Health. Both Roa (2007) and Balatibat (2004) point to the importance of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) passed in 1997. Its importance lies in its linking the restructuring of agricultural research and development to poverty eradication and strengthening food security within one comprehensive framework. As Roa (2007: 60-61) comments: ‘AFMA has been explicit in redefining the objective of food security as one of improving availability, affordability and adequacy of food, and access to resources to improve productivity in agriculture. It made clear that food security is the target, not necessarily food self-sufficiency.’ However, the challenges posed by food and nutrition insecurity are still formidable. Roa (2007: 55) presents FNRI 1990-2003 figures showing a less than substantial decline in the percentages of children (both preschoolers and children 6 to 10) who are underweight, and/ or stunted and wasted. Deficiency of Vitamin A still is a considerable problem, as is iron anaemia. Balatibat (2004: 24) quotes sources revealing that malnutrition is higher in rural than in urban areas and that households whose breadwinners are unskilled labourers, smallscale fishermen and farmers, have the highest prevalence of underweight pre-school children. The programme set up in the mid-1990s to address the nutrition problem was PPAN, the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition. It has an agenda of nine points that together form the word nutrition (Balatibat, 2004: 26). Under PPAN several initiatives were implemented, including community food production, micro credit, food supplementation and fortification, and nutrition education. Local administrators (mayors, village heads) are responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring these initiatives. A special programme is the Barangay Integrated Development Approach for Nutrition Improvement, BIDANI. Founded in 1974, BIDANI is actually a forerunner of PPAN. ‘From an action research project of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB), BIDANI evolved into a community-based development strategy in 1982. Its main goals are improved nutrition, enhanced food security, poverty alleviation and good governance’ (Balatibat, 2004: 29). Over the past 15 years BIDANI developed and expanded into a Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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network of academic institutions, each of them adopting BIDANI as an extension programme to implement the nutrition-in-development policy in collaboration with local institutions and communities. BIDANI staff also assist in evaluation and preparation of village development plans (Balatibat, 2004). 4.3 Social change A few pages do not suffice for a fair description of such a multi-facetted phenomenon as social change, even when focusing on only two countries. In this section I shall discuss three aspects of social change in relation to food: (1) social change and rice consumption, (2) changing lifestyles and the ‘double burden’, and (3) social change as can be observed in traditional communities in transition. 4.3.1 Rice-ification of food consumption Traditional beliefs surrounding rice cultivation have always been very strong in Indonesia, but seem to be waning now. For the Baduy, the goddess Nyi Pohaci still is the central figure who watches over their rice. Allegedly she favours rice cultivation on dry fields (huma), which is why the Baduy do not practice irrigation. However, among the Outer Baduy there are farmers who do irrigate the fields at the margins of Baduy territory (Khomsan et al., 2009). In the same vein, the Javanese have always maintained that the rice goddess Dewi Sri would be offended if the rice were harvested in any other way than by a woman’s hand using the ani-ani, the bamboo rice knife. But also in this case, change is taking over, and other implements like the sickle or mechanical devices, are increasingly used in harvesting, by men and women. At the same time, there seems to be a persistent trend that favours rice as staple at the expense of other staple crops. This could be seen among the Mentawai, where eating rice instead of sago or taro is becoming a status symbol (Rudito et al., 2002), and in the province of East Nusa Tenggara (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.). The report on the latter study claims that government policy has focused so much on rice as staple, that people came to see it as the appropriate staple food of ‘modern’ Indonesians. Roa (2007: 59) too asserts that government policies for food self-sufficiency have always focused on rice. The ‘green revolution’ produced high-yielding varieties and lowered the farm-gate price of paddy, which was beneficial for consumers but not for farmers. This is why Roa speaks of an ‘urban bias’ in food selfsufficiency policies. If this trend towards rice-ification of staple food continues and eating rice as staple becomes associated with being a ‘modern’ consumer, it will be at the expense of alternative staple foods. This would not only diminish the variety of the daily menu, but could also lead to a decrease in agro-biodiversity. Staples like taro, maize and cassava will come to be regarded as poor people’s foods and reduced to a last-resort food that one can fall back on when rice 106 

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is not available or cannot be bought.14 As for the role of cassava in the food system of rural households in East Java, Solichin (1996) notes that it is kept for hard times when there is no rice. Interesting in this case is that it’s the women who manage the crop. Not only do they decide when to plant and use it, but they also make sure that they take their mothers’ good varieties with them when they marry and leave the parental home. With regard to root crops much work is being done by the two Philippine root crops research and training centres in Benguet and Leyte. Research and training aim at promoting the inclusion in the menu of especially potato and sweet potato, as staple and as side dish. For over 20 years now, UPWARD15 has been supporting research on the significance of root crops for livelihoods, food security and nutrition in Asia (cf. UPWARD, 1998). Whether such initiatives will suffice to turn the tide and preserve the role of roots and tubers in livelihood and food systems, remains an open question. 4.3.2 From underweight to overweight? While in both countries there has long been a concern about pre-school children and schoolchildren being underweight for their age, indicating insufficient food intake, during the past decade there is a growing concern about children being overweight. It is found especially alarming since obese children have a relatively greater chance of growing into obese adults, with all health risks that entails. Urbanisation is thought to increase the prevalence of obesity. ‘At present, the phenomenon of the double burden of nutrition emerges in many cities. It relates to two forms of malnutrition: undernutrition and related deficiency diseases among the urban slum dwellers, and the various forms of overnutrition, in particular obesity, to be found among the middle and higher classes’ (Den Hartog et al., 2006: 44). Although these two forms of malnutrition can indeed be observed to exist side by side especially in urban environments in developing countries, I find the term ‘double burden’ rather objectionable. It places the two phenomena on an equal footing, which – in my view – is not correct. Undernutrition is a real burden for the people whom it concerns and one they cannot do much about; it is a consequence of being poor. Except for pathological cases, overweight is a matter of choice and of changing one’s lifestyle. The latter is an option the poor usually do not have. The study by Muchtadi (2007) on the consumption of soy products includes a rural-urban comparison that was discussed in Chapter 2. Table 2.8 shows that the percentages of male and female overweight teenagers vary between 2.6 and 3.7 percent, and hardly differ between 14 The reverse may also happen. Den Hartog et al. (2006: 41) mention the case of Benin, where cassava is now

fully accepted in the diet of all social classes. However, in the beginning of the 20th century it was looked upon as food of the lower classes. 15 UPWARD (Users’ Perspectives with Agricultural Research and Development) is based in Los Baños, the Philippines, and is institutionally part of CIP (Institute for Potato Research) in Lima.

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the two areas. For male and female adults the picture is not much different, though the percentages of obese women are relatively high for both rural and urban areas (7.6 and 8.7 percent, respectively). The actual problem as shown by the figures, is the high prevalence of underweight teenagers, male and female and in both rural and urban areas, though higher in the former. The proportion of underweight male teenagers in the rural sample is even more than one-third (34.3%), which I find rather alarming. So, the ‘double burden’ seems to be still very much skewed to the problem of people who are far too thin rather than overweight – teenagers in particular (Muchtadi, 2007: 75). The figures of the Muchtadi study raise the question whether the greater attention for food and nutrition security in combination with economic development in the countries of the studies reviewed have resulted in improved nutritional status of the population. Answering such a question would ideally require a longitudinal data set. If that is not available, comparing figures from different periods of the same (kind of ) population and using the same instrument is the next best option. Two studies have done this. The first is a study of the nutritional status of school-age boys in Kolkata, India, carried out by the team of Dasgupta (2008). Growth changes over time among the boys in the sample were investigated using two rounds of data collection: the first one conducted during 1982-1983 (n=816), the second one during 1999-2002 (n=1,187). The protocols were similar for both surveys. Age-specific average height, weight and BMI appeared to have all increased (by respectively 3.2 cm, 6.1 kg and 2.1). The prevalence of stunting and being underweight had declined; the prevalence of overweight had increased (Dasgupta et al., 2008: 75). The second study is the one among female adolescents in West Java already mentioned in Chapter 3 (Alisyahbana et al., 2006). In a 2005 survey carried out in 15 rural and 12 periurban villages in the district of Tanjungsari, West Java, respondents of two generations were interviewed and had anthropometric measurements (weight and height) taken: women who were pregnant in 1988-89 (when they were included in a risk-approach study for safe motherhood) and their daughters. The two groups are referred to as F1 and F2 respondents, respectively. The research is part of a comprehensive, prospective study on the long-term effects of low birth weight on reproductive performance such as menarche and foetal growth. The researchers observed that the transition in nutrition was resulting in the low prevalence of chronic energy deficiency (BMI<18.5), with about one-third of women being overweight. According to the researchers the range in chronic energy deficiency of all F2 respondents (11-27%) indicates that among them overweight was a greater problem than underweight. ‘If overweight was due to excess energy intake, then it should be attributed to the habit of frequent snacking. On the other hand, also in this population overweight is the result of a change in lifestyle. F2 adolescents lived a sedentary life as the blessing of motorized transportation reduced the time spent on walking, that of having TV invited them to watch programs instead of play outside and the only paid work available in factories also kept them sitting for hours at a stretch’ (Alisyahbana et al., 2006: 18).

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So, among the younger generation of women in the West Java study, chronic energy deficiency had decreased in comparison to their mothers. This finding mirrors the results of the Dasgupta study. At the same time, however, the researchers point to overweight as an emergent problem. As the sample included rural and peri-urban women, it seems that overweight is less due to urban living than to certain lifestyle characteristics. 4.3.3 Traditional communities in transition The study of the Mentawai discussed in Chapter 2 (Rudito et al., 2002) shows a traditional society in transition. From being a community of hunters and gatherers the Mentawai described in the book are now semi-settled. Hunting still represents core cultural values but is no longer a core activity. One gets the impression of a hybrid culture and way of life. During the week people live in the houses that the Indonesian government built for them in the resettlement area, and during the weekend they go to their traditional houses arranged around the communal house (uma) in the forest area. Hunting parties are prepared and undertaken from there. In their former living environment there still is an abundance of sago palms, from which the traditional staple was always prepared. During the week, the women now attend to their taro gardens on the river bank in the resettlement area. Instead of sago and taro, rice is gaining preference as staple. Eating rice boosts one’s social status. At the same time, boys and girls are still initiated into the skills and art of hunting and fishing, respectively. And the forest keeps providing all kinds of wild foods that can be gathered. On the one hand, the Mentawai have become villagers who practice agriculture, on the other hand they are still part hunters and gatherers. Among the Baduy, the hybrid character of a community in transition is physically represented by the distinction between Inner and Outer Baduy. Inner Baduy remains the stronghold of Baduy tradition and culture, while – gradually – Outer Baduy is changing. The changes occur because of visitors from outside Baduy, some of whom might even stay for a while, as well as the mobility of the Baduy people themselves. Changes can be observed in clothing (jeans and t-shirts), language (use of Indonesian), increased literacy and diversification of livelihoods. Furthermore, in Outer Baduy people started using wells and toilets, and the hoe in agriculture. The presence of visitors and tourists encouraged Outer Baduy people to open small shops in the front part of their houses or to become local guides. Another change is the ability of some people to read and write although they had no formal education. The mobility of Outer Baduy people has increased. Now, many of them own gardens or farmland outside the Baduy territory where they often go. They also travel to the supermarket in Rangkasbitung, or to Bogor, and even Jakarta, to sell Baduy products like honey and woven cloth. However, these changes do not seem to have had much influence on Baduy social structure and cultural values (Khomsan et al., 2009: 70-71). It is also hard to say to what extent the observable material changes lead to changes in food security and food intake. One could conclude from Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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the figures presented in Table 2.14 (Chapter 2) that the Outer Baduy, with their easier access to money and outside food products, and fewer restrictions to observe, score better in terms of food and nutrition security than the Inner Baduy. The upland village communities described by Tangonan (2008) are a mix of people indigenous to the area (Aeta), and immigrants. Gathering wild foods, as always practiced by the local people, is still important in the food system, although reportedly the availability of wild foods is on the decline. The Aeta too, have become farmers, instead of the hunters and gatherers they – presumably – were in the past. There are two kinds of farming systems, the age-old kaingin slash-and-burn farm and the flatland farm, which produce different food crops. Interfaces with the outside world and the requirements of modernity (such as education) have, however, increased the need for money and access to income-generating employment. But the farms are not productive enough and people complain about poverty. The research team’s description (Tangonan, 2008) reveals a loss of self-sufficiency and self-reliance with regard to provision of food and other basic needs, and an increasing dependency on government assistance. 4.4 Conclusion This chapter has shown that in all kinds of communities there are various indigenous institutions and institutionalized patterns of behaviour that centre around sharing food between households, or that aim at storing food for needy times, or providing poor and vulnerable people to a certain extent secure access to food. Although such institutions change or may disappear altogether, the kind of mechanisms of mutual support and redistribution they comprise are quite resilient, and can be found in different forms in diverse environments and circumstances. Over time government policies concerning food and nutrition security in both Indonesia and the Philippines over time have become more comprehensive and less focused on increasing and maintaining food supplies only. Another trend detected in those policies is a prioritization of rice as staple, leading to a more positive and exclusive appreciation of rice by the population, entailing a loss of dietary diversity and agro-biodiversity. This government prioritization of rice reflects the focus on rice in the research16 that produced new high-yielding varieties and brought about the ‘green revolution’. Much less work was done on other staple crops (cf. Roa, 2007). In such a large and diverse country as Indonesia, the research team of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.) sees as a danger of national policies that they become too rigid and centralized and do not sufficiently take regional and local variation into account. In the opinion of the team, the government should pay more attention to food 16 Such as the research conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based in the Philippines.

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diversification and the interests and characteristics of local communities. Community-based planning mechanisms should be established to assure the sustainability of institutions that aim to enhance food and nutrition security, and the synergy of food availability and local food production (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 141). While the studies reviewed reveal the challenges facing both governments in meeting the food and nutrition needs of their populations, data in specific samples indicates improvements in the nutritional status of children and adults. Ongoing social change will have effects on food habits and food intake, but what forms these take will depend on the local contexts and circumstances. Whether social change and its concomitant increases in mobility and predominance of urban lifestyles will lead to a convergence of diets (cf. Den Hartog et al., 2006), remains to be seen.

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Petai bean (Parkia speciosa)

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)

Kankung (Ipomoea reptans)

Taro (Colocasia esculenta)

Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

Green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) Casava (Manihot esculenta)

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5. Discussion Drawing on the results of the research projects reviewed in the previous chapters, in this final chapter I shall reflect on some fundamental issues pertaining to food security. The issues highlighted in this chapter include poverty and food provision, vulnerability and diversity, and the relationships between them. At the end of the chapter I shall discuss the multidisciplinary collaboration in research on food and nutrition security and how disciplinary interfaces are reflected in the studies under review and constitute added value by a gain in understanding how people provide for their food and nutrition needs. 5.1 Reflecting on food and poverty linkages Food is a basic need for everybody. For poor households, feeding their members is an everyday life priority and a daily challenge. In their book on the study of diaries of poor households in India, Bangladesh and South Africa, the authors (Collins et al., 2009) conclude that for these households in managing their financial ‘portfolio’ (as the authors call it) the basic objective is to have food on the table, not only on days when income flows in but every day. The pattern the authors observed of informally borrowing small sums of money from relatives or neighbours on a more or less regular basis, is motivated by the need to achieve this objective. ‘Small as they are, interest-free loans like these, which featured in many of our diaries, did the job they were intended to do – they ensured that the household members ate something each day’ (Collins et al., 2009: 46). In various ways the studies reviewed look at the linkages between poverty, type of livelihood, food security and nutritional status. Their findings testify to the existence of these linkages but the evidence is not always straightforward. Balatibat (2004) found that also among households with incomes above the poverty threshold, food shortages are reported. She concludes that ‘income alone does not always guarantee adequate food on the table. It also indicates that income is a poor indicator of food security’ (Balatibat, 2004: 175). Furthermore, food security does not directly translate into nutrition security and adequate nutritional status, partly because the latter is not only determined by food intake but also by health and care variables (Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1). Nevertheless, a number of studies did find evidence of a positive relationship between socio-economic status and nutrition status. Pangaribuan (2003), for example, found a significant positive relationship between monthly household income and nutritional status of pre-school children as measured by weightfor-age and height-for-age scores. With regard to maternal nutrition, Muslimatun (2001) found that low maternal nutritional status (using the body mass index as an indicator) during pregnancy and lactation, is associated with household characteristics that reflect low socio-economic status. The characteristics she measured included asset ownership, not just income. Roa (2007) used livelihood type to assess household socio-economic status and found it a good predictor of both food and nutrition security.

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Apparently, household income alone is not a sufficient indicator of poverty and is a weak predictor of the food and nutrition security of the household and its members. Regarding the ways to gain insight into the phenomenon of poverty, the authors of the book on the portfolios of the poor cited above, comment as follows. ‘Large surveys give snapshots of living conditions. They help analysts count the number of poor people worldwide and measure what they typically consume during a year. But they offer limited insight into how the poor actually live their lives week by week – how they create strategies, weigh trade-offs, and seize opportunities. Anthropological studies and market surveys examine behavior more closely, but they seldom provide quantified evidence of tightly defined economic behavior over time’ (Collins et al., 2009: 3, emphasis in the original). The research team took a different approach. During one year they collected data at least twice a month from 250 poor households in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. This enabled them to construct diaries that picture the flow of financial activity of the households over a one-year period. The researchers could observe that the households struggle with what they call the ‘triple whammy’ of low income, irregular and unpredictable income, and a lack of flexible and reliable financial management tools (Collins et al., 2009: 16). According to the authors, the diaries of the households reveal three kinds of needs that drive their financial activities: ‘1. Managing basics: cash-flow management to transform irregular income flows into a dependable resource to meet daily needs; 2. Coping with risk: dealing with the emergencies that can derail families with little in reserve; 3. Raising lump sums: seizing opportunities and paying for big-ticket expenses by accumulating usefully large sums of money’ (Collins et al., 2009: 18, emphasis in the original). Hence, an important reason why income alone is a weak indicator of food security is its use not only for food and other basic needs, but also for dealing with emergencies and saving for occasions that require large expenses17. A research project carried out in two regions in the district of Subang, West Java, focused on finding appropriate poverty indicators and testing their relationship with indicators of nutritional status of children and adults (Suhanda et al., 2009). The regions selected represent a rice-growing area and one where horticulture is predominant. The Suhanda report provides a useful overview of poverty measurements in Indonesia, which makes it relevant to summarize here. The first are the poverty lines calculated by the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (BPS) based on the amount spent on the minimum needs for food and non-food per capita per month. Fifty-two food commodities are selected, while the non-food commodities number 27 items for urban areas and 26 types for rural ones. The amounts must be adjusted for price changes and vary per region. For example, in 2006 the urban poverty line in West Java was set at Rp175,324, and its rural counterpart at Rp131,256 per capita per month. Households below these levels are classified as poor (Suhanda et al., 2009: 11). As we have seen, several of the studies reviewed used the BPS 17 As described in Section 4.1.3, traditional saving-and-credit groups, such as the Indonesian arisan, provide the

mechanism that also enables poor people to have occasional access to larger sums of money.

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norm. For some years now, the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) has applied a more operational approach. It divides households into five welfare categories using criteria that include: having at least two meals a day, being able to wear different clothes for different activities, housing, access to health services when needed, and conducting religious activities. Three decades ago, the well-known Indonesian sociologist Sajogyo adopted an expenses approach in terms of rice equivalents as the poverty line determinant, differentiating between rural and urban areas. Poor rural households spend less than the price of 320 kg of rice per capita per month, very poor rural households less than the price of 240 kg of rice, and the poorest rural households less than the price of 180 kg of rice. For urban households these numbers are 50% higher (Suhanda et al., 2009: 12). While the BKKBN norm obviously requires detailed local assessments, the problem with the Sajogyo norm is that it does not work well in a situation where rice prices are kept artificially low while other prices are rising, which has been the case in Indonesia. What the three norms have in common is that either rice expenses or consumption is a crucial component. The sample of the survey carried out by the Suhanda team was stratified according to region and the BKKBN classification. In the horticultural area 195 households belonged to the lowest two BKKBN categories (1st stratum) and 66 households to the other three categories (2nd stratum). For the rice-growing area the respective numbers were 116 and 145. Equal samples of 261 were taken in the horticultural region and the rice-growing region, yielding a total sample of 522. The researchers analyzed the expenses on both food and non-food to determine a new poverty line. They call it the new gold standard of poverty line, because it is expressed in equivalent amounts of gold. To determine an acceptable minimum cost of living, for both areas the team first made an inventory of the commodities required for an acceptable standard of living, in terms of food, clothing, housing, health, education, electricity, communication, transportation, and entertainment. A focus group discussion (FGD) in each area considered the minimum level at which those needs should be met. Every FGD was attended by the researchers, ten respondents (farmers), two formal public figures and three informal leaders. First, the researchers explained to the FGD participants the concept of minimum cost of living. This was followed by a discussion until an acceptable and realistic level of minimum cost of living could be determined for both areas. Subsequently, discriminate analysis was used on the survey data to divide the households into the categories of poor and non-poor according to this standard. The mean monthly per capita income of poor households proved to be Rp179,411 (standard deviation 96,367), that of non-poor households Rp893,474 (standard deviation 709,476) (Suhanda et al., 2009: 43). In terms of expenditures it is noteworthy that in poor households 56.5% of all expenditures is for food, while for non-poor households this percentage is 43.5 (Suhanda et al., 2009: 48). Table 5.1 compares the percentages of poor households according to this new poverty line (New gold standard) with the results of categorization when applying other methods of establishing poverty lines.

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Table 5.1. Percentages of poor households in two types of areas in Subang, West Java when applying different poverty standards (Suhanda et al., 2009: 112).

Type of standard

New gold standard BPS1 BKKBN1 Sajogyo1 World Bank: 1 US dollar a day World Bank: 2 US dollar a day

Percentages poor households Rice-growing area (n=261)

Horticultural area (n=261)

Both areas (n=522)

59.77 36.02 74.71 29.12 49.04 73.56

76.63 52.11 44.44 42.53 65.90 85.82

68.20 44.06 59.58 35.82 57.47 79.69

1BPS: Indonesian Bureau of Statistics, BKKBN: National Family Planning Coordinating Board, Sajogyo:

expenses approach in terms of rice equivalents.

The table shows the percentages of poor households to be higher in the horticultural area than in the rice-growing area, irrespective of type of standard, except when using the BKKBN method. This is consistent with the lower average monthly per capita income in the horticultural area compared to the rice-growing area: Rp351,484 (standard deviation 506,451) and Rp461,494 (standard deviation 539,970), respectively (Suhanda et al., 2009: 43). The standard developed by the researchers yields more poor households than any of the other standards, except when using the World Bank criterion of living on two dollars per capita per day. The discrepancy with regard to the percentage of poor households one gets when applying the Sajogyo approach could be explained by the government subsidies on rice resulting in its artificially low prices. But applying the BPS standard also results in underestimating the number of households that cannot provide for the basic needs of their members at a level set as adequate by the participants in the focus group discussions. The research by the Suhanda team exemplifies the difficulties in developing adequate poverty indicators and measurements. The methodology they used includes a subjective element in the sense that the standard was developed in a participatory manner. This participatory approach can be both a strength and a weakness. Its strength lies in its validity and closeness to the real-life world of the people studied, its weakness is in the problem of upscaling it and applying it to other areas. The researchers themselves point to the subjective element in the BKKBN standard because some of its variables are qualitative in nature and have to be subjectively assessed. Still, according to their calculations the discriminant power of the BKKBN standard (81%) comes closest to that of their own standard (84%). They do not 118 

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explain why the BKKBN standard reverses the other standards’ pattern of horticultural households being poorer than rice-growing households (Suhanda et al., 2009: 116). Education Poverty is not just a matter of insufficient income and inability to meet basic needs. It also entails nutritional deficiencies, low health status, and lack of education (Irawan and Romdiati, 2000). Hossain (2001) found that improving the quality of human capital was crucial for the reduction of poverty among farming households in Southeast Asia. Other important factors he identified were: the household’s access to land, accumulation of nonland assets, and the number of money-earning members in the household. In addition, the adoption of technology and the development of rural infrastructures were found to have a synergetic positive effect on the reduction of poverty. Education as part of human capital also plays a role in livelihood frameworks, in which human capital is one of the five capitals access to which is considered necessary for generating and sustaining livelihood (Niehof, 2004). Whether poverty is defined as deprivation or as unsustainable livelihood, education is included as a key factor. In this way, education is part of the poverty-food equation. Good education of household members contributes to the quality of human capital in the household, which enhances livelihood resources and may reduce poverty, thereby indirectly influencing food and nutrition security of the household and its members. The studies reviewed and the literature point to the importance of the mother’s education for child nutritional status. Chapter 3 reported the findings of Pangaribuan (2003), Roa (2007) and Dasgupta (2008) about the positive effect of maternal education on child nutritional status. These are important findings relevant to policy makers as well, but one has to keep in mind that the effect of the mother’s education is hard to separate from other social and economic effects. In Balatibat’s study on food and nutrition security in lowland and coastal areas in the Philippines, for example, in both areas households with relatively higher educated women less often report food shortages. However, the (self-reported) food-insecure households also have lower per capita incomes and fewer assets (Balatibat, 2004: 81-82). Education of mothers in this case is part of a complex of social and economic factors that affect child nutrition through household food security. The mother’s care-giving competence may increase through education (Februhartanty et al., 2007), but having the material means to provide good care is equally important. For lack of those means, mothers cannot do much with the knowledge and information they do have. 5.2 Diversity, diversification and vulnerability Diversity of food systems and foods is the subject of Chapter 2, while vulnerability is a key perspective in Chapter 3. In this section I shall briefly reflect on the relationship between the two and its implications for food and nutrition security. There is a large body of literature on the importance of biodiversity for the sustainability of ecological systems and human Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change 

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life (see, for example, Almekinders and De Boef, 2000; Harmon, 2002). Biodiversity and agrobiodiversity are also assumed to affect food production and consumption patterns in several ways, as the studies reviewed in Chapter 2 illustrate. Loss of (agro)biodiversity increases the vulnerability of food systems for several reasons. A major reason is that the loss of valuable food resources or their knowledge about them (indigenous varieties, wild foods) limits people’s food options, usually irreversibly. Farmers usually understand this very well and value on-farm diversity. A study carried out in the province of Guizhou, China (Yuan, 2010) shows how farmers only partly adopted the hybrid maize varieties promoted by the government and kept reserving part of their land for their own traditional maize varieties. The reasons they gave is that, although they know that the hybrid varieties have higher yields, they like the traditional ones better, not only because they prefer them for food but also because they require less inputs and can be intercropped with other traditional crops. Similar stories have been documented for the response of farmers to government promotion campaigns of high-yielding rice varieties in Indonesia. There is also diversity in vulnerability. Some vulnerability to malnutrition is biologically based, relating to specific stages in an individual’s life course (see Section 3.1) or to women’s reproductive functions (see Section 3.2.1). This is important for targeting vulnerable groups. Poor people are vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity. However, there is also diversity in poverty contexts. Poor rural people find cheap food resources in their environment that reduce their vulnerability. A study in the Philippines (Garcia, 1990) found that the diet of poor agricultural labourers was quite diverse because they relied heavily on local foods they could afford or find for free, such as vegetables and legumes. Their nutritional status – in terms of micro-nutrients adequacy – was better than that of locals with a higher income. Diversification differs from diversity. While diversity describes a situation or a process outcome, diversification is strategic behaviour. On-farm diversification refers to deliberately enhancing or preserving variety and difference in crops and cropping patterns to retain specific varieties or crops that serve different purposes or can be harvested at different times, thus reducing risk and strengthening the self-reliance of the farming household (Negash and Niehof, 2004). In the livelihood literature, the concept of diversification refers to strategies to reduce vulnerability, especially for farming households. When farming as a source of income cannot provide an adequate living anymore, people try to diversify their sources of income, or – phrased in livelihood jargon – they diversify their livelihood portfolio (Niehof, 2004). Roa’s study (2007) systematically investigated the relationship between diversification of livelihood activities and outcomes in terms of nutritional status. She concludes that among the four livelihood types distinguished, households having a livelihood portfolio in which over 50% of income is off-farm income (type 3), were doing best in terms of children’s nutritional status (Roa, 2007: 259). The other studies did not systematically look at the linkages between livelihood diversification and the resulting status of the household in terms 120 

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of food and nutrition security. However, all studies show a diversity of livelihood strategies pursued, also in rural areas where agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood generation. Some of these strategies are more successful than others, yielding higher incomes and offering better chances of good food and nutrition security outcomes. A telling example is that of the differences between the rice-growing households and the horticulture ones in Suhanda’s study (2009) discussed above. It can be postulated that, first, livelihood diversification reduces food insecurity and, second, dietary diversity reduces the risk of malnutrition. In the light of this statement, the observable trend towards replacing traditional staple foods by rice (in Section 4.3.1 referred to as riceification) is a matter of concern. The focus on rice as a desirable and status-enhancing staple food may cause people in areas where rice has to be imported, to buy this rather than the cheaper local staple foods that are available. This may negatively affect both household food security and individual nutritional status. The authors of the study on food security in six Indonesian districts also critically comment on the way the Indonesian government presents regional food problems exclusively in terms of rice availability. They question whether rice imports are really necessary. Apart from the fact that, in their view, more attention should be paid to the distribution of food supplies, they also think that a narrow focus on rice prevents a comprehensive understanding of food problems in Indonesia in which local diversity is taken into account. Finally, they regret that the discussion on rice imports has become much politicized: ‘It is important to keep the imported-rice policy away from political interests which derail the objectives of policies on food’ (Dwiyanto et al., n.d.: 117). 5.3 Methodological diversity and disciplinary interfaces on the subject In his book on research methods the anthropologist Bernard (2002: 23) quotes the sociologist Schutz who once said that when you study molecules, you do not have to worry about what the world ‘means’ to the molecules, but when you try to understand the reality of a human being, it’s a different matter entirely. ‘The only way to understand social reality is through the meanings that people give to that reality.’ Food is both molecules and meanings. Food security can be measured by using objective operational indicators, like the number of daily meals people can afford, food expenses, amounts of food stored, or frequency of food shortage, although ‘food shortage’ is usually not objectively measured but self-reported. At the same time, food security has a subjective meaning to people. Balatibat (2004: 102-104) found meanings differing between men and women within one research area and between the two research areas. Women in particular emphasized the ability to put three meals a day on the table and to eat rice every day. Women also mentioned having a backyard garden as important to food security. Some women associated food security with having a ‘full belly’. Men, on the other hand, emphasized having a job or a regular income and, in the case of fishermen, having plenty of fish to catch.

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The same duality of objectively measurable indicators and subjective meanings in relation to the same concept, applies to nutrition. There are several methods to measure the intake of nutrients and outcomes in terms of nutritional status. In the foregoing chapters we have seen how they were used in the studies reviewed. At the same time, most people do not associate food intake with invisible nutrients but with visible ingredients and the size of the meal. They judge the meal and its ingredients in terms of sufficiency, tastiness, the prestige attached to being able to provide such a meal, or the perceived effects of certain ingredients on the consumer’s body or health. In the discussion about food restrictions during pregnancy (Section 3.2.1) we saw certain foods are taboo for pregnant Javanese women because the meanings attached to these foods implied that the mother’s eating these would have a negative effect on the unborn child or would prolong the delivery (Rudito and Susena, 2007). However, from a nutritional point of view a particular restriction could have a negative effect on the health of the pregnant woman and, by extension, on the unborn child. Eggs are a case in point. The duality of molecules-and-meanings pertaining to the topical areas of food and nutrition calls for the use of different research methods in investigating these topics. It also implies different ways of ascertaining the validity of assumptions and conclusions. A nice example of how the same variable can be measured in different ways that yield different results is the importance of backyard gardens for food security. While as we saw above, women in Balatibat’s study held the (subjective) view that having a backyard garden is important for food security, in neither of the two areas the survey results confirmed the importance of backyard gardening for having (self-reported) food shortages or not (Balatibat, 2004: 81, 82). Thus the question whether backyard gardens are important for household food security does not yield one unequivocal answer, but two types of answers. However, this should not lead us to conclude that one type of answer is truer or more correct than the other. In the first case the association between backyard gardening and food security is based on the emic statements of women, and in the second on an etic procedure (statistical analysis) linking two variables asked about in a survey. The most fruitful elaboration of the emic-etic distinction as a methodological tool is found in medical anthropology, but this tool is applicable in research on food and nutrition as well. Emic and etic statements have their own validity checks. In the words of Harris (1968: 571) emic statements ‘refer to logico-empirical systems whose phenomenal distinctions or “things” are built up out of contrasts and discriminations significant, real, accurate, or in some other fashion regarded as appropriate by the actors themselves. An emic statement can be falsified if it can be shown that it contradicts the cognitive calculus by which relevant actors judge that entities are similar or different, real, meaningful, significant, or in some other way “appropriate” or “acceptable”’(emphasis added). ‘Etic statements depend upon the phenomenal distinctions judged appropriate by the community of scientific observers. Etic statements cannot be falsified if they do not conform to the actor’s notion of what is significant, real, meaningful, or appropriate. Etic statements are verified when independent 122 

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observers using similar operations agree that a given event has occurred’ (Harris 1968: 575, emphasis added). The one kind of answer is not necessarily truer, more valid or better than the other. Both answers are equally ‘true’, provided that for each approach the appropriate procedures have been followed in eliciting and analysing the data, which undoubtedly was done in the case of the Balatibat study. The discussion above shows that different research methods yield different kinds of data. Such data together may concern the same topic, i.e. the importance of backyard gardening for household food security, but the approaches and questions used to elicit them will differ. The methodological and paradigmatic distinctions between the natural sciences on the one hand and the social and cultural sciences on the other, have long since been acknowledged and taken for granted. However, also in the latter sciences there are methodological divisions, notably the one between disciplinary approaches favouring quantitative research methods and those favouring qualitative methods. Bernard (2002: 23) notes that ‘the split between the positivistic [etic] approach and the interpretative-phenomenological approach [emic] approach pervades the human sciences.’ In her article on studying intra-household resource allocation, Scrimshaw (1990) pleads for a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. In her opinion there are basically two types of methodological questions. ‘The first is how to measure accurately the actual behaviours, motivations, feelings, and outcomes […] The second is how to ensure an accurate understanding of the meaning of the behaviours and concepts to be measured’ (Scrimshaw, 1990: 86, emphasis in the original). These types of questions should be clearly distinguished in order to be able to use them in a complementary way and to optimize validity and reliability in research. In the domain of food and nutrition the same kind of methodological duality – as captured above in the phrase molecules-and-meanings – can be found, hence the same need for comprehensive and balanced approaches applies. A look at the studies reviewed reveals a range of applied methods, yielding both emic and etic data. In the studies on the knowledge of wild food resources (Price, 1997; Setalaphruk and Price, 2007) the dominant method is free listing, which aims at laying bare indigenous/ local (emic) knowledge systems. Systematic observation as part of participant observation is an important method in a number of other studies (e.g. Bacos et al., 2005; Blijham et al., 2007; Khomsan et al., 2009; Tangonan, 2008). Focus group discussions are an important component in the design of many of the studies reviewed (e.g. Balatibat, 2004; Roa, 2007; Suhanda et al., 2009), and detailed case studies also feature in a number of studies. These methods can be classified as qualitative research methods aimed at eliciting meanings, opinions and motivations. In many of the studies these methods are combined with quantitative methods that yield data amenable to more sophisticated statistical analysis, such as household surveys, 24 hour-food recalls and anthropometric measurements. In most studies the two types of methods and emic and etic approaches are combined, though the emphasis may be more or less skewed to either side.

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The literature refers to purposively combining different research methods and approaches to the same research topics or questions in order to strengthen the validity and reliability of the research findings as triangulation. It was applied in most of the studies reviewed. In different study designs the combinations and the sequence of application of the different methods will vary. I once distinguished three basic models Niehof (1999: 39). The first is qualitative research of an explorative nature to be followed by quantitative research. An example is the study by the Suhanda team (2009) that used focus group discussions and key informants to establish an acceptable level of minimum costs of meeting basic needs, after which the survey was carried out. Based on the outcomes of the focus group discussions the survey households could be classified as poor or non-poor and statistical analysis could be done on their characteristics in terms of food and nutrition security. The second model has three phases. The quantitative phase of model 1 is followed up by another qualitative phase to further investigate specific issues in depth, or to do case studies on households or life histories of persons judged to have characteristics relevant to the issue under study. The selection of these households or persons can be based on a preliminary analysis of the survey results. The larger research projects of Keasberry (2002), Balatibat (2004) and Roa (2007), for example, illustrate model 2. In the third model, the research starts with a survey, sometimes in combination with other quantitative methods such as taking anthropometric measurements, and is followed up by in-depth qualitative research. The study on exclusive breastfeeding (Wibowo et al., 2008) is an example of this model. The richness of data presented in this book testifies to the usefulness of applying combinations of research methods and approaches that take the household as the unit of analysis, and tally with Scrimshaw’s emphasis on their complementarities rather than their differences. As noted in the introductory chapter, the researchers involved in the studies reviewed represent a range of disciplinary backgrounds. The extent to which they see the relevance of applying both quantitative and qualitative methods and their ability to do so, depends on their disciplinary training. To ensure that the different aspects and the necessary methodological approaches in a research project are well covered, for complex research on food and nutrition, multidisciplinary collaboration is fruitful and almost inevitable. Narrowing food and nutrition research to the application of a biologically-reductionist paradigm that focuses on individuals only, will not make poor people more food and nutrition secure (Lang, 2005). Actually, in a number of the research teams involved, multidisciplinary expertise was indeed represented. In the Baduy study (Khomsan et al., 2009), for example, an anthropologist was added to the team of nutritionists. This resulted in the detailed and rich information on Baduy culture presented in the report, which helps to understand food habits and how cultural factors influence nutritional status. The Mentawai study (Rudito et al., 2002) represents the opposite case. In this case it would have been interesting if a nutritionist had joined the team of anthropologists. The team did note the dietary changes in the wake of cultural change, but systematic research on these changes and their nutrition implications is missing. In such a situation multidisciplinary collaboration would have 124 

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enriched the study. However, multidisciplinary collaboration is not easy, because among the researchers involved there often is often a mutual lack of knowledge about and appreciation for ‘other’ disciplinary perspectives. Nutritionists and other scholars trained in a positivist tradition and experienced in applying quantitative research methods for example, frequently underestimate the training and experience required for doing good qualitative research. To a large extent disciplinary orientation also determines the research topic and the way the research problem and research questions are phrased. Hence, in the team that consisted only of anthropologists the question raised above about the nutrition implications of the dietary change among the Mentawai did not arise. As said above, complex research problems in the domain of food and nutrition require collaboration between representatives of different disciplines. Such collaboration can be multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary. These different forms vary from getting another expert on the team to carry out a specific part of the research, to conceptualizing and implementing the research project from different disciplinary angles from start to finish. Swaans (2008: 18-19) explains the different modes of collaboration as follows. ‘In multidisciplinary approaches, researchers from a variety of disciplines collaborate in one research program, but without integration of concepts, epistemologies or methodologies. More profound knowledge integration is achieved through interdisciplinary research. In this case, researchers from various disciplines work on the same topic with common objectives and research questions. […] In contrast to multi- and interdisciplinary research, transdisciplinary research ensures a complete integration of knowledge through participation of a variety of stakeholders with conflicting interests (including end-users) and mutual learning between the stakeholders.’ Looking again at the studies reviewed, we see examples of multidisciplinary collaboration, in a few cases interdisciplinary collaboration (Khomsan et al., 2009; Tangonan, 2008), but little transdisciplinary collaboration. Perhaps an example of the latter that could qualify is the research of the Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Center – in which consequently sweet potato producing and processing households are involved in the research as stakeholders (Gayao et al., 2004). Nevertheless, in almost all studies, research methods originating from different disciplines and both etic and emic perspectives were applied. This may not have always resulted in ‘more profound knowledge integration’ (see above), but it did result in gaining insights into the diverse ways in which people in the study areas provide for their food needs, what strategies they apply, what constraints they experience, and how successful they are in achieving food and nutrition security for their families.

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Glossary Ani-ani Arisan Beas perelek Beras Desa Dukun Fetor Gudang Huma Idul Adha Idul Fitri Ibu Ibuism Kaingin Kindai Krismon Lenggang Leuit Lia Lumbung Melinjo Mitoni Nasi Nasi tim Nipa Petai Posyandu Punen Puun Rambutan Romblon Rupiah Salak Sari-sari Sikerey Selamat

Bamboo rice-knife (Indonesia) Traditional informal saving and credit arrangement (Indonesia) Rice-donations by households to the community to be consumed at ceremonial occasions (Baduy, Indonesia) Uncooked rice (Indonesia) Village (Indonesia) Traditional healer (Indonesia) Title for a ruler, ‘king’, on the island of Timor (Indonesia) Storage house Agricultural land (Baduy, Indonesia) Feast of sacrifice for Muslims Feast of the end of the fasting month for Muslims Mother, term of address for adult women (Indonesia) The phenomenon whereby it is culturally and socially accepted for women to use the role of mother (ibu) to make decisions and claim control also in matters beyond the domestic domain and the family context (Indonesia). Upland farms practising slash-and-burn cultivation (Philippines) Household rice-barn (South Kalimantan) Financial crisis, acronym of krisis moneter (Indonesia) Collective rice-barn (Inner Baduy, Indonesia) Household rice-barn (Baduy, Indonesia) Family and life-cycle rituals (Mentawai, Indonesia) Rice-barn ( Java) Tree (Gnetum gnemon) bearing edible leaves and seeds Javanese ritual at the seventh month of pregnancy (Indonesia) Cooked or steamed rice (Indonesia) Rice porridge (Indonesia) Weaving material from palm leaves (Philippines) Bitter-tasting variety of beans (Indonesia) Integrated services post for reproductive and mother-and-child health care in rural areas, acronym of pos pelayanan terpadu (Indonesia) Community cleansing ritual (Mentawai, Indonesia) Traditional head (Baduy, Indonesia) Fruit of the Nephelium lappaceum Weaving material from the Pandanus odoratissimus (Philippines) Indonesian currency Fruit of the Zalacca palm Small shop (Philippines) Ritual specialist (Mentawai, Indonesia) A state of safety and well-being, blessing (Indonesia)

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Selamatan Suki Tauco Tape Tahu Tempe Tofu Uem bubu Uma Utang na loob Warung Yuba

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Joint ritual aimed at enhancing well-being (Indonesia) Patron-client relationship between traders and farmers (Philippines) Fermented soybean product (Indonesia) Fermented rice or cassava (Indonesia) See tofu (Indonesia) Fermented soybean cake (Indonesia) Soybean curd (Indonesia) Storage place for food (Timor, Indonesia) Communal house (Mentawai, Indonesia) Debt of gratitude (Philippines) Small shop (Indonesia) Soybean milk (Indonesia)

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List of acronyms and abbreviations AFMA ANSI BKKBN BH/A BIDANI BIMAS BMI BPS BULOG BW/A CIP CPPS DKP DPM-LUEP EBF FEE FGD FNRI HAZ HFIAS HH HIV/AIDS IADL IRRI MUAC NHF PRCRTC PPAN RDA RFE RASKIN ROSCA TBA UPWARD USAID

Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (Philippines) Australian Nutrition Screening Initiative Badan Kordinasi Keluarga Berencana Nasional, National Family Planning Coordinating Board (Indonesia) Body height for age index Barangay Integrated Development Approach for Nutrition (Philippines) National community guidance program to enhance rice production (Indonesia) Body mass index Biro/Badan Pusat Statistik, National Bureau of Statistics (Indonesia) National food logistics agency (Indonesia) Body weight for age index Central Potato Institute (in Lima, Peru) Centre for Population and Policy Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Food security councils at different administrative levels in Indonesia Village-level, agribusiness agency (Indonesia) Exclusive breastfeeding Food expenditure equivalency Focus group discussion Food and Nutrition Research Institute (Philippines) Height-for-age Z-score Household Food Insecurity Access Scale Household head Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Instrumental Activities for Daily Life International Rice Research Institute (Philippines) Mid-upper arm circumference Neys-Van Hoogstraten Foundation Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Centres Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition Recommended dietary allowances Real food expenditure ‘Rice for the poor’ program (Indonesia) Rotating savings and credit association Traditional birth attendant Users’ Perspectives with Agricultural Research and Development s) Development aid from the United States of America

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List of acronyms and abbreviations

WAZ WHO WHZ

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Weight-for-age Z-score World Health Organization Weight-for-height Z-score

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References List of reviewed NHF-supported project reports18 Alisjahbana, A., J.A. Kusin and S. Kardjati, 2006. The Intergenerational Cycle of Low Birth Weight: The Nutritional Status and Health-Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour of Female Adolescents in the Tanjungsari Cohort Study, West Java Indonesia. Phase I: Baseline study. Frontiers for Health Foundation and Medical Faculty of Padjadjaran University, Bandung, 96 pp. [IN 175]. Dwiyanto, A., Faturochman and Sukamdi, n.d. Strategies of Anticipating Food Insecurity: Study on Institutional Food Insurance Development in Indonesia. Center for Population and Policy Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 141 pp. [IN 165]. Februhartanty, J., D.O. Fransisca, A. Roshita, U. Fahmida and E. Dianawati, 2005. Childcare of Children Aged 6-36 Months in Patrilineal and Matrilineal Families: A Study Among Karo and Minang Households. SEAMEO-TROPMED Regional Center for Community Nutrition, University of Indonesia, 65 pp. [IN 146]. HKI, 2008. Developing a simple but effective model of homestead food production based on growing kang kong and yellow-fleshed sweet potato among vulnerable groups. Quantitative Survey Report. Helen Keller International Nepal, 30 pp. [NP 189]. Khomsan, A., D. Sukandar, H. Riyadi, F. Anwar and E.S. Mudjajanto, 2005. Research on Food Security and Nutritional Status of Poor Households in Highland and Coastal Areas. Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 206 pp. [IN 167]. Khomsan, A., F. Anwar, D. Sukandar, H. Riyadi and S. Mudjajanto, 2007. Study of Nutrition Program Implementation: Its Utilization by Households, Coverage, Effectiveness, and Impact on Nutritional Status in Poor Areas. Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 193 pp. [IN 184]. Khomsan, A., F. Anwar, D. Sukandar, H. Riyadi, S. Mudjajanto and W. Wigna, 2009. Socio-Cultural Aspects of Nutrition and the Food System of the Baduy Tribe in Indonesia. Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 153 pp. [IN 192]. Le Thi Kim Lan, 2008. Working Women in Coastal Communities: Traders, Processing and Household Food Security in Central Vietnam. Department of Sociology, Hue University of Sciences, Vietnam, 42 pp. [VT 154]. Lirio, L.G., 2009. An Underutilized Resource for Livelihood and Food Security Enhancement of Rural Communities in Benguet, Philippines. Benguet State University, La Trinidad, Philippines, 20 pp. [PH 209]. Muchtadi, D., 2007. Handling, Acceptability and Consumption Pattern of Locally Produced Soy Products in Different Socio-economic Groups in Java, Indonesia. Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 90 pp. [IN 166]. 18 Between square brackets the NHF reference number of the project.

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Patriasih, R., I. Widiaty and M. Dewi, 2009. Study on Socio-Economics and Environmental Factors Contributing to Health and Nutritional Status of Street Children. Indonesian Education University, 113 pp. [IN 199]. Suhanda, N.S., L. Amalia and Khairunisa, 2009. The Standard Poverty Line of Farmer Households Based on Food, Nutrition, Agriculture, and Socio-economic Indicators (Case Study in Subang, West Java, Indonesia). Center for Management of Agricultural Human Resources, Bogor, Indonesia, 109 pp. [IN 196]. Sunarti, E., 2008. A Study of Plantation Women Workers: Socio-economic Status, Family Strength, Food Consumption and Children Growth and Development. Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, 78 pp. [IN 190]. Tangonan, P., 2008. Analysis of the Livelihood Systems of Upland Households in the Province of Tarlac, Philippines. Tarlac College of Agriculture, Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines, 123 pp. [PH 177] Wibowo, Y., J. Februhartanty, U. Fahmida and A. Roshita, 2008. A Formative Research of Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice among Working and Non-working Mothers in an Urban Setting. SEAMEOTROPMED Regional Center for Community Nutrition, University of Indonesia, 62 pp. [IN 180]. Zein, A., 2007. The Role of Fisher-women on Food Security: A Case Study of Traditional Fishermen Households, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 284 pp. [IN 170].

Published sources and PhD theses Ali, A., 2005. Livelihood and food security in rural Bangladesh: The role of social capital. PhD Thesis Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Almekinders, C. and W. De Boef, 2000. Encouraging Diversity: The Conservation and Development of Plant Genetic Resources. Intermediate Technology Publications, London, UK. Ardener, S. and S. Burman (eds.), 1995. Money-go-rounds: The Importance of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations for Women. Berg Publishers, Oxford, UK. Ariningsih, E. and H.P.S. Rachman, 2008. Strategi peningkatan ketahanan pangan rumah tangga rawan pangan. [Strategy for improving household food security]. Analysis’ Kebijakan Pertanian, 6(3): 239-255. Bacos, F.F., A.R.M. Ramirez and N.G. Dungo, 2005. Manila Street Children: A Closer Look on their Vulnerability and Strength. Food and Nutrition Research Institute-DOST, Manila, Philippines. Balatibat, E.M., 2004. The linkages between food and nutrition security in lowland and coastal villages in the Philippines. PhD Thesis Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Beatty, A., 1996. Adam and Eve and Vishnu: Syncretism in the Javanese slametan. Journal Royal Anthropological Institute, 2: 271-288. Bernard, R.H., 2002. Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Third edition. Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York, Oxford: Alta Mira Press. Bickel, G., M. Nord, C. Price, W. Hamilton and J. Cook, 2000. Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000. US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Alexandria, USA.

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Keyword index A age 71 ageing 27 agency 25, 28, 71, 93, 94 area –– coastal 119 –– lowland 119 –– rural 43, 105, 108, 117 –– urban 43, 105, 108, 117 arisan 99, 100, 116 B backyard garden 37, 121, 122 barn 52, 53, 95, 96, 101 C care 39, 75 caregiver 27, 74, 86, 87, 88, 92 cassava 41, 55, 78, 106, 107 childbirth 80, 81 childcare 43, 83, 86, 88, 93 children 66, 74 –– pre-school 68, 74, 75, 76, 87, 88, 92, 105, 115 –– primary school age 68, 74 –– rural 48 –– school 76, 93, 103 –– school-age 75 –– street 74, 76, 77 –– teenagers 45, 69, 74 –– under five 75, 103 –– upland 64 –– urban 48 –– young 71 coastal –– area – See area, coastal –– household – See household, coastal –– village 36, 83 crisis 26, 100 culture/cultural 21, 49, 81, 109

D diversification 69, 111, 119, 120, 121 diversity 35, 65, 92, 115, 119, 120, 121 E EBF – See exclusive breastfeeding ecosystems 39 education/educated 23, 44, 57, 64, 70, 85, 87, 88, 109, 117, 119 –– maternal 24 elderly 27, 45, 46, 68, 71, 77, 78, 79, 93 emic 122, 123, 125 environment 35, 36, 49, 70, 81, 110, 120 –– urban 88 ethnic 43, 59, 75, 87 etic 122, 125 exclusive breastfeeding 27, 71, 72, 73, 74, 92 F farmers/farming 53, 64, 102, 103 festivals 97, 98 fishermen/fishing 36, 38, 39, 50, 121 food –– chain 23, 25 –– complementary 72 –– consumption 36, 41, 42, 43, 59, 80, 85 –– exchange 97, 98 –– intake 30, 31, 51, 57, 58, 65, 74, 75, 87, 88, 93, 105, 109, 111 –– security 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 32, 38, 59, 65, 83, 86, 101, 105, 109, 110, 115, 116, 119, 121, 122 –– system 35, 49, 51, 53, 107 –– wild 35, 60, 65, 66, 70, 123 G gatherers/gathering 65, 69, 92, 109, 110

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Index

gender 21, 51, 52, 66, 71, 81 –– inequities 22 –– relations 53 H health services 23 horticulture 35, 41, 82, 116, 121 household 25, 33 –– coastal 37, 38, 75, 86, 89 –– concept 32 –– income 71, 76, 80, 84, 115, 116 –– lowland 37, 75, 86, 89 –– non-poor 72 –– poor 72, 76, 82, 83, 86, 117, 118 –– rural 44, 45, 107 –– upland 59 –– urban 44, 45 hunters/hunting 50, 60, 65, 69, 109 hygiene 58 I ibu/ibuism 28, 94 income 83 infant 27, 43, 71, 74, 79, 80, 92 institution 95, 100, 106, 110 institutional 26, 32 iron 76, 79, 80, 89, 93, 103, 105 K kin/kinship 39, 89, 90, 99 L life course 27 life cycle 50, 97 –– rituals 64 lifestyle 23, 43, 108 –– urban 111 livelihood 22, 23, 35, 36, 40, 43, 83, 115, 119, 120, 121 –– approach 22 –– security 22 lowland 140 

–– area – See area, lowland –– household – See household, lowland –– village 36, 83 M maize 55, 69, 96, 106 malnutrition 31, 74, 93, 103, 120, 121 multidisciplinary 115, 124, 125 N non-working mothers 73 nutrition 23 –– security 22 O obese/obesity 49, 108 P paid work 73, 84, 86, 87, 93 plantation 84, 85, 88 policies 22, 26, 93, 95, 100, 101, 105 posyandu 103, 104 poverty 64, 81, 82, 83, 93, 105, 110, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120 pregnancy/pregnant 28, 79, 80, 81, 93, 103, 122 programme 95, 100, 102, 103, 105 R RDA – See Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) reproductive role 28, 88 Required Dietary Allowances (RDA) 57, 58, 75 rice 50, 51, 53, 55, 60, 63, 67, 69, 78, 82, 96, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 110, 117, 118, 121 –– farmers 41 –– growing 116 –– growing area 41 root crops 60, 61, 63, 107 rural area – See are, rural Food, diversity, vulnerability and social change

Index

rural-urban differences 43 S sago 69, 106 sanitation 23, 58 schoolchildren – See children, school season 29 slametan 21, 97 social network 40, 70 soybean 35, 43, 44, 65, 66, 67, 70, 78 staple 50, 69, 101, 106, 110, 121 strategies 25, 90, 91, 92, 121 stunted/stunting 32, 75, 105, 108 subjective 30, 118, 121, 122 sweet potato 41, 55, 76, 80, 88 T taro 50, 55, 69, 106, 109 teenagers – See children, teenagers toddlers 74 U urban –– area – See are, rural –– bias 106 V vegetables 56, 57, 60, 61, 63, 89, 120 vitamin A 76, 79, 80, 89, 93, 103 vitamin C 76 vulnerable/vulnerability 21, 26, 27, 28, 71, 77, 79, 81, 92, 93, 115, 119, 120 W wasted/wasting 32, 38, 75, 104, 105 wild foods – See food, wild working mothers 27, 73

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