Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Background: Recurring flooding in Central Java impacts food availability through direct losses to agricultural crops, but it is not well-understood how floods are affecting diet-related aspects of food security such as household food access and utilization. We explored the relationship between recurrent flooding and household food access over a 22-year span in Central Java. We examine linear and nonlinear relationships between recurrent flooding within districts and household diet quantity and quality and joint effects with indicators of adaptive capacity. Methods: We linked the Global Surface Water dataset to the Indonesian Family Life Survey by district and analyzed Central Java households across 5 survey waves spanning 1993 to 2015. We measured recurrent flooding as the fraction of district raster cells with episodic flooding over the period 1984-2015 (defined as GSW recurrence values between 1-99). We constructed food access indicators based on the Data4Diets framework using the available consumption and expenditure data: household food expenditure share and dietary diversity score. We used statistical and machine learning methods to assess the relationship – generalized linear mixed models and Random Forest regression models. Findings: We detected joint effects with flooding and adaptive capacity. Wealth and access to credit were associated with improved household food expenditure share and diet diversity. The effect of wealth on food expenditure share was stronger in households in more flood affected districts, while access to credit was associated with reduced odds of diet diversity in more flood affected districts. Flooding had more predictive importance for food expenditure share than for diet diversity. Interpretation: Access to credit, a factor that ordinarily improves food access, may not be effective in flood-prone areas. Wealthier households may be better able to adapt in terms of food access.
Language: English
Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics
Field: Nursing
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,842
OpenAlex ID: W4403518871