Does Paddy Field Conversion Control Affect Food Security in Indonesia?

Deskripsi

"Food security is a strategic issue that the government is currently focusing on amid a large urbanization drive. Governments in various countries have established policies to decrease the conversion rate of productive land, which threatens national food security. Including Indonesia, which recently declared regulations controlling the conversion of paddy fields in 2019. This research examines the impact of determining a policy restricting the conversion of paddy fields on food security. In this study, food security was proxied by Ratio of Normative Cerealia Consumption to Net Production (CER) as an indicator of Food Security Index published by the National Food Security Agency.
The study relied on panel data from several sources for 2014-2021 at the county level. Using the Propensity Score Matching and Difference in Difference (PSM-DID) approach for analyzing the various treatment variable and reducing potential bias caused by variations in the characteristics of the observed districts, it is attainable to conclude that the implementation of control policies has a positive association with food security in Indonesia. The extent of the impact also varied between Java and outside Java islands, with policies adopted on outside Java islands having a greater effect than policies implemented on Java Island."