Indonesia’s vast agricultural land, wealth of natural resources, and agro-climatic diversity should be major advantages in building food security.

However, increasingly unpredictable climate change poses a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Irregular rainfall patterns, extreme temperature changes, and other impacts have caused losses in food crop production and increased the risk of food instability.

Challenges are also faced in addressing the gap between urban and rural areas, as well as the uneven access to agricultural technology and infrastructure, which are major obstacles to achieving food security across the country. Dependency on certain imported foods also creates uncertainty in food supply and prices, especially when disruptions occur in the global supply chain.
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In facing the challenges of climate change and maintaining food security, Indonesia is also confronted with economic transformation affecting the agricultural sector. This transformation has led to the conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural land, threatening food availability. The conversion of agricultural land, especially rice fields, reduces the area available for food crop cultivation, potentially decreasing food production. Policies are needed that focus on increasing food production, resource management, and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

Thus, addressing the challenges of climate change in the context of food security requires not only a technical approach to food production but also a holistic and collaborative policy approach to address the impacts of climate change and ensure the availability of sufficient, safe, and sustainable food for the Indonesian people.

Global climate change has a real impact on food crop production. Globally, climate change is projected to reduce crop yields, especially in agricultural areas located at lower latitudes, which will experience negative impacts.

These negative impacts are due to lower latitudes having air temperatures at the upper limits of plant tolerance (below 10°C and above 29°C). Based on crop model simulations, it is reported that a 1°C increase in temperature and a 5% increase in rainfall will reduce rice productivity by up to 0.33 tons/ha. Meanwhile, extreme climate events, often resulting in floods and droughts in Indonesia, also negatively affect food crop production.

Global warming projections may increase the frequency of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, marked by El Niño and La Niña occurrences. El Niño is characterized by a relatively longer dry season, which leads to droughts, while La Niña is characterized by high rainfall intensity, resulting in floods.

Understanding the potential impacts of climate change requires anticipatory steps, commonly referred to as climate change adaptation. Climate change adaptation aims to leverage the positive effects and minimize the negative impacts of climate change. Adaptation activities can be implemented through infrastructure improvements as well as through capacity building for farmers and commodities.

The causes of climate change stem from various factors that lead to an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The main greenhouse gases that cause climate change are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Thus, human activities such as deforestation, land conversion, intensive agriculture, and unsustainable livestock practices significantly contribute to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to global climate change.

The conclusion of this article is that climate change has a significant impact on food security in Indonesia. Climate change threatens agricultural productivity through changes in rainfall patterns, extreme temperatures, and natural disasters, increasing the risk of food supply instability.

In addition, the economic transformation that results in the conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural land also presents new challenges in maintaining food security. To address these challenges, collaborative efforts are required between the government, private sector, and civil society to develop sustainable policies and practices to increase food production, manage natural resources, and reduce vulnerability to climate change.