Local Geo-politics of Urban Food Resilience to Achieve Sustainable City Development in Malang, Indonesia

Abstract

Conversion of agricultural land functions into settlements in the city of Malang is a major factor in achieving urban food security. The area of agricultural land in Malang City is 1,104 ha, mostly dominated by rice farming, which is 821 ha, the rest is agricultural land that is used by sugar cane, horticulture or vegetables. In its development, every year it experiences a shrinkage of between 2-5%. The land conversion has occurred because of the increasing need for housing. The Government of Malang City has committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target, namely by carrying out safe food management. This research focuses on the local geopolitics of Malang City Government in food independence to achieve Sustainable City Development. This research uses a qualitative descriptive approach with a case study approach. The data is obtained from primary data obtained from observations, interviews, and documentation, while secondary data is obtained from literature review of several local government report documents, research journals related to food security and independence policies in Malang. Malang City succeeded in managing food safety by optimizing the potential of Natural Resources both land for agriculture, land, human resources and other food resources for the utilization of food security and nutrition. In addition, access to adequate food and nutrition (1) Connecting government power and local potential through the establishment of food security villages, (2) Development of cooperation through the Urban Farming program and (3) Relationship of local policies and politics in the Sustainable Food Home Area programs.

Understanding Urban Farming as Food Security for Community Resilience: A Study in Malang City

“…The Malang City Food Security Service organized this activity. The special allocation funds for Sustainable Food Farms are included in the community empowerment activity scheme in diversifying food consumption based on local resources (Arifah & Poerbaningtyas, 2023;Artandio et al, 2019;Kamil & Romadhan, 2020;Nasuiton, 2020) . The main objective of this Sustainable Food Farms is the government's integrative efforts to overcome the problem of stunting.…”

“…If pulled further, urban agriculture tends to leverage improving urban ecosystems, addressing climate change, absorbing noise, and minimizing the footprint of transportation fumes. Regarding the impact on psychology, urban agriculture has the opportunity to provide therapeutic recreation to encourage physical and mental health (Kamil & Romadhan, 2020;Nasuiton, 2020;Zezza & Tasciotti, 2010).…”

“…Nonetheless, food selfsufficiency is increasingly unattainable, especially in agricultural products in urban areas. Agricultural output continues to decline every year, causing the issue of food security to become an essential problem for urban areas, incredibly densely populated areas, even though the need for food derived from agricultural products continues to increase (Bo'do, 2019;Kamil & Romadhan, 2020;Surya et al, 2020;Yamauchi & Larson, 2019). One obstacle to meeting urban communities' food needs is limited land.…”

“…The case study tries to identify the available areas for implementing urban agriculture in Malang City. For example, a preliminary study found that urban agriculture can improve food access and distribution in low-income communities (Atasa & Nugroho, 2021;Giriwati et al, 2018;Kamil & Romadhan, 2020;Nasuiton, 2020;Okuputra et al, 2022). Additional studies have investigated the role of urban agriculture in increasing equity of access to healthy food, examined the economic life of smallholder farmers, and addressed challenges in sustainable agriculture (Arifah & Poerbaningtyas, 2023.;Artandio et al, 2019;Ilham Pradana;& Wandari, 2023;Murwani et al, 2022;Setiyo et al, 2023).…”