Contextual approach for food security: How indigenous community use social capital to sustain their rice availability

The implementation of programmes and/or policies to address food security issues often overlooks contextual aspects, which have the potential to cause conflict and may lead to injustice. Therefore, a contextual approach is an important part of developing strategies or plans related to food security so that their implementation can be adjusted to the existing needs and contexts. This research uses Kasepuhan Gelaralam as a case study for its community-based food security, particularly in terms of rice availability, and how it sustains and achieves this using the concept of social capital as a lens of analysis. The research method used is qualitative-descriptive with an ethnographic approach and hybrid data collection conducted by visiting Kasepuhan Gelaralam and by telephone calls. The results show that Kasepuhan Gelaralam has a set of customary rules that are included in the structural dimension, which are believed in and implemented by all community members as a form of the cognitive dimension of social capital. These two dimensions are interrelated and strengthen social capital in this community, especially with their Kabendon system. Social capital plays an important role for this community in advancing and sustaining the availability of rice, which is part of community-based food security. However, the results also show that the social capital of this community faces several challenges and threats, such as vulnerability to dependence on the level of community trust about their social capital and some external factors, such as the potential erosion of cultural values, issues related to land tenure, and the impact of environmental change. These findings preserve the contextual aspects of this community. They should be taken into account when implementing food security programmes and/or policies, rather than using a conventional “one-size-fits-all” approach that can potentially cause several problems.