*3.3. Public Perception of the Effects of Climate Change and the COVID-19 Outbreak on Food Security in Pamijahan District*

According to Watts (2009), sustainable development will be successful if all stakeholders, including the community, work together as a single organism. It is critical to understand the perspectives of those who are touched by the events that occur, as well as local knowledge, to reduce existing problems. As a result, this study employs a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design (John W. Creswell 2014), which includes both quantitative and qualitative components. The qualitative technique based on in-depth interviews seeks to ascertain the community's opinion on the impact of climate change and the COVID-19 outbreak on food security and existing local ecological knowledge.

Based on in-depth interviews, flood-affected residents endure fear and trauma. Residents stated that the flood disaster had a greater impact on the economy and family food availability than the COVID-19 outbreak because the flood damaged rice fields and fish ponds, which are also sources of livelihood and food for residents, as well as transportation for food providers. Rising temperatures, erratic weather, and high-intensity rains causing floods and landslides are all symptoms of climate change. During the COVID-19 outbreak, no inhabitants were confirmed positive for COVID-19, although health precautions were put in place to avoid COVID-19 transmission.

Flooding of fish ponds and rice fields caused crop failure among the inhabitants, resulting in a decreased food supply. The water also destroyed food storage facilities (refrigerators, cupboards, and other items), leaving inhabitants without food. The flood devastated the road transportation infrastructure, isolating the town and making it difficult for locals to obtain rice and other basic components. The state of food supplies was likewise unstable for a few months following the disaster. Those who could previously buy 30 kg of rice can now only buy 10 kg of rice, while those who could previously buy 1 kg of eggs can now only buy 2 eggs.

Flood-affected residents saw a greater than 50% loss in income, affecting their capacity to obtain food. Flooding cost 68.8% of respondents their jobs as farm laborers. Furthermore, the flood destroyed highways, resulting in a scarcity of some foodstuffs.

A decreased income forces residents to cut their food budget, reducing the frequency of meals for flood-affected residents, which is not in accordance with a balanced nutritional diet. Aside from that, locals reported that following the floods and the COVID-19 outbreak, residents, particularly toddlers, became more easily ill. This has the potential to generate nutritional and public health issues if not handled properly.

According to in-depth interviews, floods caused by climate change and the COVID-19 outbreak have had an impact on all facets of food security in food-surplus but disasterprone countries. Farm laborers provide the majority of the livelihoods of those affected by the crisis, according to (The Economist Group 2022), and farmers are the most susceptible group because of climate change and the COVID-19 outbreak. Agriculture is fundamentally reliant on the environment. While agriculture is crucial for producing food and providing nutrients for human health, it can also have an impact on the environment by polluting air and water and generating greenhouse emissions (Gilbert 2012).

Agriculture, food, public health, and climate change are all interconnected in different ways (Lam et al. 2017; Ramachandran et al. 2020). Declining environmental quality can have an impact on public health and raise health care spending, which in turn has an impact on agricultural and food production (Wu et al. 2016). Environmentally friendly agricultural and food systems, on the other hand, can reduce GHG emissions, improve public health, and raise the capacity and output potential of future agricultural systems (Barbier 2020).

For the establishment of an environmentally friendly agricultural and food system, local ecological knowledge and resources must be studied (Lam et al. 2017). Based on

conversations with agricultural extension workers, traditional leaders, and local farmers in Pamijahan District, they continue to adopt sustainable farming practices based on local ecological knowledge. Agricultural activity is not simply a means of meeting human needs but also of drawing closer to the Creator. Before beginning the planting process, Pamijahan local community/farmers hold a scattering meeting attended by the Association of Farmers Groups (Gapoktan), neighborhood associations, village heads, and village elders to determine the planting time and location based on constellations.

Local farmers control pests and diseases by rotating planting kinds, trading seeds among farmers, and using natural pesticides. Local farmers believe that in growing rice, everything in the food chain, including pests and animals, has a role, so they do not use chemicals to manage them. This is consistent with the concepts of sustainable agriculture, which include adaptive agriculture that continues to grow, remains functional, is resistant to stress, becomes productive, uses resources efficiently, and balances sustainability goals at all scales (Mucharam et al. 2022).

Citizens in Pamijahan District have a history of preserving the harvest (rice) in a specific room called "Goah" or Leuit to assure the availability of food stocks. Rice storage in Goah/Leuit is being encouraged anew as the Pamijahan community abandons the habit. Goah/Leuit protects food security, especially in times of calamity or crop failure (Kusdiwanggo 2020).

Respondents in this study were people in Pamijahan District, Bogor Regency, who were devastated by floods and landslides on 22 June 2022. There were 64 households that responded. Respondent factors such as age, occupation, education, and income were examined. Table 8 shows further features of the respondents.


**Table 8.** Respondent criteria.

Source: Compiled by the author.

The characteristics of the respondents in this study were dominated by the age range of 31–40 years, namely 43.8%. This age range covers the productive age, which has the potential to increase resilience to face disaster threats due to climate change and nonnatural disaster threats. Farm laborers are the dominant occupation of the respondents in this study, namely 68.8%. Farm laborers are people who receive wages by working in

other people's gardens or fields. The income of 32.8% of the respondents in this study amounted to Rp. 1,000,000–1,500,000 per month, which is still far below the Bogor Regency regional minimum wage of 4,217,206. The educational level of 76.6% of the respondents is elementary school.

### *3.4. Managerial Implications*

The study's managerial implications are being implemented to establish food security in disaster-prone communities in Pamijahan District, Bogor Regency. Based on the findings of the food security situational analysis and qualitative descriptive analysis, the aspects most affected by climate change, specifically floods and the COVID-19 epidemic, are food availability and food access. The pathway analysis results also show that in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 epidemic, it is important to improve food availability and access.

To achieve food availability that fulfills the needs of each individual, the people of Pamijahan District may reestablish the tradition of storing rice/food crops in "Goah/Leuit" to guarantee food availability in natural and non-natural disaster situations. Furthermore, the community must re-implement sustainable agriculture by combining local ecological knowledge (being environmentally friendly, not greedy, and using agriculture to get closer to the Creator) with the most current advances in science and technology (using climate and weather information and disaster information in agricultural planning).

Stable food availability can be achieved by bringing food closer to the community, where it is not affected by price changes, food delivery problems caused by disasters, or decreasing incomes. A potential strategy is to use the grounds around the house for food (Boyacι-Gündüz et al. 2021).

Adaptation to disaster mitigation due to climate change is accomplished by the use of an agroforestry pattern in the implementation of sustainable agriculture (Alfatikha et al. 2020). This involves combining agricultural and forestry crops to increase resilience and reduce the danger of landslides, floods, and droughts.

#### **4. Discussion**

Climate change through increasing temperatures has an impact on rising sea levels, high rainfall intensity, and drought, which threaten food security and nutrition through interrelated impacts on land for agriculture, the growth of crops, the survival of sources of animal food, and labor productivity in agriculture (Hendriks et al. 2022). The average temperature in Pamijahan District in the period 1991–2022 increased by 0.60 ◦C. This temperature increase is still within normal limits, referring to the Paris Agreement (UNFCC 2015), which states that the maximum limit for the global average temperature rise internationally is 1.5 ◦C. Increasing temperatures cause changes in distribution and rainfall and increase the potential for extreme climates.

At least one extreme climate event occurred between 1991 and 2022. A longer dry season resulted in drought, which was positively related to disaster events in Pamijahan District in particular. Temperature changes also affect seasonal shifts, such as a shorter rainy season with higher rainfall (floods) and a longer dry season. Bogor Regency is included in the most disaster-prone areas in West Java; according to provincial disaster-prone index data for 2011, it ranked fifth overall.

Torrential rains caused severe flooding and landslides in Pamijahan District, Bogor Regency, on 22 June 2022. These events caused three people to die, displaced more than 335 people, and destroyed more than 281 houses, schools, health facilities, and infrastructure (Regional Disaster Management Agency 2022). Floods in Pamijahan District caused disturbances throughout the food system, including damage to food supply infrastructure, namely rice fields, fields, fish ponds, food storage, transportation, and markets. In addition, access to food and clean water is also hampered (Hendriks et al. 2022). Because the majority of the affected residents were agricultural laborers, the floods that damaged rice fields and fish ponds also killed the residents' sources of income and livelihoods.

Floods, landslides, and strong winds are the three main hydrometeorological disasters in Pamijahan District. The probability of food insecurity in an area will increase if disasters occur frequently there (Baliwati 2019). Food insecurity can also be understood as a situation in which access to and consumption of food in a place, community, or household are insufficient to meet everyone's physiological needs for survival and growth. Food insecurity can occur simultaneously with certain events.

Using two analytical approaches, information on food insecurity and its causes is examined. Food insecurity can be classified as chronic or transient, depending on the cause (Sowe et al. 2015). This study investigated transient and chronic food insecurity using an analysis of the Food and Nutrition Awareness System (SKPG) and the Food Security and Vulnerability Map (FSVA).

Based on the findings of the FSVA analysis, the condition of food security in the Cibunian and Purwabakti villages in 2022 will drop to Priority 2 (somewhat vulnerable to food insecurity). From the end of 2019 until the end of 2022, the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, which attacked aspects of food access and significantly decreased the income and welfare of the population, resulting in a decrease in food purchasing power (Béné et al. 2021). The disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has affected the poor and other marginalized groups, especially those with low purchasing power (Roubík et al. 2023).

As a result of crop failure, there is an increase in food insecurity in terms of food availability. Natural disasters that damage agricultural land and intensify the existence of creatures that disturb plants are one of the factors causing these conditions (Nuraisah and Kusumo 2019).

In addition to the unresolved COVID-19 disaster, in 2022 there will be flash floods, which will affect the food supply in Cibunian Village and Purwabakti Village. It was emphasized by (Rasul 2021) that the COVID-19 outbreak has largely had an impact on the components of food access related to decreased purchasing power and food shortages as a result of widespread social restrictions. In addition, in 2022, the villages of Cibunian and Purwabakti will experience flash floods, which will hinder access to logistics and hamper food distribution.

The percentage of under-fives in Pamijahan District is a benchmark for food utilization. Malnutrition in toddlers during the COVID-19 outbreak can be caused by several factors, including a decrease in services due to the restrictions resulting from the outbreak (Yuwansyah et al. 2021). In the 2018–2022 period, the frequency of underweight toddlers increased by 8.3% in Pamijahan District.

Five of the eleven feasible hypotheses were confirmed by this study:


5. Food use is positively and significantly affected by climate change. It shows how disasters caused by climate change reduce the quality of food and water.
