The dual role of women in food security and agriculture in responding to climate change: Empirical evidence from Rural Java

Abstract

Climate change is a major problem faced by various sectors today, particularly agriculture. Farmers in Indonesia, threatened by climate change, must be able to make sound decisions if they are to survive. Female rural farmers frequently manage complex households while pursuing multiple income streams, including in the areas of agriculture and food security. This study aims to examine the dual role of women as key agents of rural Java's agricultural development, as well as the strategies they use to tackle low productivity, crop failure, pests, and other effects of climate change. This study uses a concurrent mixed methods approach, namely qualitative and quantitative triangulation with a Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and logistic regression analysis. The results show that female farmers in Magelang and Yogyakarta enter the agricultural sector to improve their families' economic conditions and ease their husbands' burdens. The agricultural sector absorbs labor in various sectors. The conditions in which women help the family's economic conditions by working will impact family food security. According to the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) questions, the results obtained from this study indicate that 51.4 % of female farmer households in Magelang and Yogyakarta do not experience food insecurity. The factors affecting food security in Magelang and Yogyakarta are education, income, number of household members, and the dummy variable for experiencing climate change. The climate change conditions experienced by the agricultural sector affect female farmers. However, female farmers in Magelang and Yogyakarta have yet to achieve mitigation.

Keywords

• Agriculture
• Climate change
• Dual role of women
• Food security
• Rural Java