The ability of dryland farmer households in achieving food security in food-insecure area of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Abstract

Dryland farmer households in food-insecure areas are faced with an unfavorable situation infertile agricultural land, low rainfall, lack of production activity and very limited infrastructure. On the other hand, their needs for food consumption must be fulfilled for a healthy, productive and sustainable life. The purpose of this study is to determine the ability of farmer households to achieve food security in food-insecure areas. This study uses primary data obtained from dryland farmer households by snowball sampling. The ability of dryland farmer households in terms of food availability, access to food, food utilization, energy adequacy rate, protein adequacy rate, the ratio of food expenditure and total expenditure. The households commonly consume local food with the amount of energy and protein sufficiency less than the recommended amount. The food consumption adaptation strategy is applied during the off-season and/or when food stock is running low.