2 - Social Protection, Food Security and Food Sovereignty: Perspective from Poor Farmer Households in Rural Java

This paper discusses how the perspectives and strategies of poor Javanese rural farmers are related to discourses and policies of food security and sovereignty which in the last decade have become highly contested at  both global and local levels.  On one hand, the agricultural sector has been under increasingly pressure from the high cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and production equipment and strong government control over pricing of agricultural produce. On the other, is a flow of social protection programs in the form of basic necessities. originating from the government through various social protection programs. There has also been a significant change in the meaning of working as farmers and their efforts to produce agricultural materials. Social protection programs have become a support for poor households to meet their consumption needs, but on the other hand, this is thought to have boomeranged on their conception as farmers in rural areas. My research considers what strategies have rural communities have developed to maintain food security in their households?