Chair: International Food Economics and Rural Development

Analysis of Food Demand, Food Security, and Poverty in Rural Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract: According to the definition of the World Bank more than 20% of the households in the vicinity of the Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, have been classified as very poor and almost 50% as poor in 2005. During research conducted in 2005 we estimated the accuracy of various sets of indicators of poverty and identified a set which yields the highest accuracy in predicting absolute poverty.
The current research will estimate the same econometric models using the same set of indicators, but from a household survey in 2007. This enables us to investigate how the accuracy changes over time (‘out of time test’), which has not been done in a scientific study before. Moreover, we plan to use the 2007 household data to re-estimate an optimal poverty prediction model. Both methodological approaches will provide answers to the question of how robust poverty indicators are over time, and what types of indicators might change over time.
We will also expand our analysis to assess the food security status (such as caloric intake) of the household members and the socio-economic determinants of food demand. The analysis aims to assess household members’ food security and food intake and to explain the households’ level of demand for food items, given the structure of relative prices, real income, and a set of household characteristics (capital endowment, access to markets etc.).

Researchers involved: Xenia van Edig, Stefan Schwarze, and various partners at universities in Germany and Indonesia

Funding: DFG


Back to Homepage of the Chair: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/42360.html