Dominant factors on food coping mechanism of poor households in Pringsewu Regency, Indonesia

Introduction: In general, poor households do not have sufficient purchasing power to ensure food security, and this has led to the establishment of food coping mechanisms to alleviate this insufficiency. Therefore, this study was aimed at identifying the dominant factors on food coping mechanism of poor households. Methods: Simple random sampling technique and random tables were used to obtain the data from a sample size of 92 beneficiaries of poor targeted households of prosperous rice (RASTRA) in Pringsewu Regency through interviews and a questionnaire. Four villages, i.e., Fajar Baru, Kemilin of North Pagelaran SubDistrict, Wargomulyo, and Tanjung Rusia of Pardasuka Sub-District, were the locations of the study. Data were analysed using descriptive and factor analysis. Results: Results showed that most households had food coping mechanisms involving buying smaller amounts and cheaper types of foods. Factors forming the poor households’ food coping mechanisms were the households’ social and economic conditions, food coping activities, assets, and heads’ and their wives’ occupations. Conclusion: In Pringsewu Regency, the dominant factor affecting food coping mechanism was social condition. This condition encompassed the household head’s age, his and his wife’s length of formal education, their nutrition knowledge, and the number of actors on food coping mechanism. Education was the dominant variable on food coping mechanism of poor households and it played the biggest role in affecting the establishment of survival mechanisms for overcoming food insecurity.