Economic dimension of the sustainable rice availability in Indonesia

Abstract

Rice is a staple food and a source of income for some Indonesians living in rural areas as farmers. The disturbance of rice availability, caused by crop and distribution failure, can result in significant shortages and increased rice prices in a short time. This often leads to social problems developing into multidimensional crisis which can threaten the national stability and disturb the unity of Indonesia's territory. This research was conducted in West Kalimantan, with the aims to analyse sustainability of rice availability in West Kalimantan based on sustainability index of economic dimension and any dominant leveraging attributes which support the sustainability with Rap-Rice method using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS). Data used primary and secondary data. The results of the analysis indicate that the index of sustainability of rice in West Kalimantan category is relatively sustainable with a value of 50.57%. The attributes that become factor of continuous leverage are farmers' accepted grain prices (2.85%), availability of production facilities (2.57%), government subsidy (2.45%) and farmers' bargaining position in crop sales.