1. BACKGROUND
There has been a constant need for the Government of Indonesia to improve geographical targeting of more vulnerable areas for food and nutrition security related interventions. Recognizing World Food Programme (WFP) expertise in food security analysis and mapping, in 2003 the Food Security Council (FSC), chaired by the President of Indonesia, whose Secretariat is the Food Security Agency (FSA), collaborated with WFP to develop the national Food Insecurity Atlas (FIA) for Indonesia. The first FIA was developed and launched in 2005 and covered 265 rural districts in 30 provinces. More than US $32 million were allocated by the government to 100 districts identified as food insecure and interventions began in 2006-2007. The second atlas, with a new title
“Food Security and Vulnerability Atlas (FSVA)” covering 346 rural districts in 32 provinces, was launched by the President of Indonesia and Minister of Agriculture on 24 May 2010 and it has already been fully integrated into annual government work plans and budgetary allocations. WFP has been providing technical and financial support towards the development and implementation of the FIA and FSVA since 2003.
While the national FIA 2005 and FSVA 2009 successfully uncovered the district level disparity of food security and vulnerability in the country, there was no tool to analyze and classify food security and vulnerability at the sub-district level. The provincial FSVA have been developed in NTT as a new tool for planners and decision makers to identify vulnerable sub-districts which require special attention for food and nutrition interventions.
2. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROVINCIAL FSVA
Like the national FSVA 2009, provincial FSVA serves as an important tool for decision making in targeting and developing recommendations for responding to food and nutrition insecurity at the district and sub-district levels.
Analyzed 13 indicators related to food security based on officially issued secondary data of the period 2007-2009, and composite 9 of them to derive a Composite Food Security Analysis allow the provincial FSVA to answer three key questions related to food security and its vulnerability: Where are the higher vulnerable to food insecurity (by district, sub-district); How Many are they (estimated population); and Why are they higher vulnerable (main determinants for food insecurity)?.
3. KEY FINDINGS OF THE PROVINCIAL FSVA
3.1 Food availability
• Agricultural output is slightly increased (about 1.9% per year during 2000-2008) and decreased by 1.1% in 2009. Rice, maize, cassava and groundnuts production were increased, while production of sweet potato and soybean reduced. Most rural sub-districts of NTT province are self-sufficient in cereal production, and cereal availability at the provincial level is adequate.
• However, out of 280 rural sub-districts, 43 sub-districts were cereal deficit.
Food Security and Vulnerability Atlas of NTT
3.2 Food access
• Limited access to food for the poor as a result of combination of poverty, lack of stable employment, low and irregular cash income and limited purchasing power remained a greater challenge. In 2009, more than 1 million people (23.31%) lived below the provincial poverty line.
• Since 2005, all districts have been able to reduce the poverty rate, but two districts (Ende and Rote Ndao) have not.
• In 2009, poverty was concentrated in six districts (Sumba Timur, Sumba Barat, Sumba Barat Daya, Sumba Tengah, TTS and Rote Ndao). Out of 20 districts, 12 districts had a poverty level higher than the provincial average, with Sumba Tengah having the highest proportion of poor people (35.83%).
• More pronounced differences exist between sub-districts. Out of 280 sub-districts, 143 sub-districts had poverty rates higher than the provincial average. Among them, 93 sub-districts had more than 30% of people living below the provincial poverty line.
• The Open Unemployment Rate (OUR) in 2009 decreased by nearly 1% from 2007.
• More than 14% of the villages in the province were not accessible by four-wheeled vehicles.
• Nearly 60% of households in the province did not have access to electricity. The access was limited in all districts.
3. 3 Food Utilization and the Nutritional Situation
• In 2009, the average daily energy intake was 1,972 kcal, lower than national Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and the protein intake was 54.13 grams, surpassed the national RDA. However, the lowest three expenditure classes consumed only 1,779 kcal/capita/day or less, and their diet remained quantitatively inadequate and qualitatively imbalanced.
• Overall, 85% of villages had access to the nearest health facilities located within 5 km, which significantly improved during the last five years (67.2%).
• On average, 34.16% of households did not have access to improved drinking water. The poorest access was in Sumba Barat, Sumba Timur, Kupang, TTS and Sabu Raijua districts.
• Overall, in 2008, female illiteracy rate in the provincial was 14.66%. The highest illiteracy rate was in Sumba Barat Daya (32%), Sumba Tengah (30%), Sumba Barat (26%), Belu (22%), and TTS (22%) districts. At the sub-district level, 51 out of 280 sub-districts had an illiteracy rate of 20% or more.
• According to the Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) conducted in 2007, the provincial rate of underweight (mixed chronic and acute malnutrition) was 33.6%, which have not met the MDG goal and still was a very high level of public health significance. Huge disparities between regions remained with 8 districts having underweight rates higher than the provincial rate. By sub-district, 140 out of 280 sub-districts had a very high prevalence of underweight (≥ 30%). Higher underweight was found in districts in Timor Island, Sikka, Manggarai and Rote Ndao districts.
• According to the Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) conducted in 2007, the provincial prevalence of stunting (chronic malnutrition) was 46.7%, ranked at a very high level of public health significance. In total, 13 districts had a very high prevalence (≥ 40%), and another one districts had a high prevalence (30%-39%). The latest RISKESDAS conducted in 2010 shows increased stunting rate in the province (58.4%).
• The average life expectancy in the province was 66 years in 2008, eight out of 20 districts had the life expectancy of 66 or more years. At the sub-district level, 74 out of 280 sub-districts had the life expectancy of 70 or more years.
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3.4 Areas of higher vulnerability required higher priority (Where, How Many and Why?)
• Composite Food Security Analysis was conducted to answer these three questions by clustering and mapping 280 sub-districts which had complete datasets of all nine indicators related to chronic food insecurity. Among them, 135 sub-districts are ranked as higher priority: 38 of Priority 1, 31 of Priority 2 and 66 of Priority 3, with a total estimated population of 1.96 million people. The remaining 145 sub-districts are classified as Priorities 4-6. Higher attention should be paid to sub-districts of Priorities 1-3.
• The 38 sub-districts in the Priority 1 are concentrated in TTS district (17), TTU (7), Belu (5), Kupang (3), Sabu Raijua (2), Sikka (2), Manggarai (1) and Sumba Barat (1), with approximately 447 thousand people. Their vulnerability to food insecurity is mainly attributed to poverty, high underweight rate among children under-five, and limited access to electricity, clean water and roads.
• The 31 sub-districts in the Priority 2 are concentrated in Sumba Timur (19), Sumba Barat Daya (8) and Sumba Tengah (4), with approximately 473 thousand people. The main determinants for their vulnerability are: limited access to electricity, poverty, low life expectancy, and limited access to clean water and roads.
• 66 sub-districts in the Priority 3 are concentrated in TTS (13), Kupang (11), TTU (11), Belu (10), Rote Ndao (7), Sumba Barat (5), Manggarai (5), Sabu Raijua (3) and Sikka (1) with approximately 1 million people. Their vulnerability to food insecurity is mainly attributed to high underweight rate among children under-five, limited access to electricity and roads, low life expectancy and limited access to clean water.