Building Resilience: Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Rice Production Based on Agricultural Infrastructure in West Java Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Climate change threatens the sustainability of the agricultural sector and has the potential to affect food availability in West Java, Indonesia’s rice production centre. This study aims to examine how agricultural infrastructure has developed over the past five years and how this has affected the vulnerability index. Climate, production, agricultural infrastructure and facilities data were collected from various sources, including the Central Statistics Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Directorate General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities. The data were analysed to obtain Pearson correlation values and vulnerability levels based on the ratio of production inputs to harvested area. The results show that climatic elements affect rice production in West Java, especially rainfall (r = 0.82), which is negatively correlated with production. The increase in rainfall causes significant flooding, which leads to crop failure. Production inputs such as agricultural machinery, ponds and rehabilitated tertiary irrigation networks (RTIN) support production and mitigate climate impacts. Rice production has a high Pearson correlation with the vulnerability index (r =0.75). The vulnerability ratio for West Java in 2022 was 0.0015, which means it is classified as vulnerable.

Climate change, villages and agromaritime: Current conditions and future challenges in Indonesia

“…Rice cultivation heavily depends on weather conditions, with rainfall being a particularly detrimental factor that can negatively affect production. In West Java, excessive rainfall often leads to severe flooding, which can ultimately result in crop damage and failure [6]. Based on a review of the existing literature, several studies have been conducted, including those that focus on the following areas.…”

“…It is a complex undertaking for the government to improve the village infrastructure and develop agromaritime ecosystems. A study of rice farmers in West Java indicated that the rehabilitation of agricultural machinery, ponds, and tertiary irrigation systems (RTIN) can enhance production on agriculture [6]. The availability of an adequate transportation infrastructure is another crucial socioeconomic factor that presents a significant challenge.…”

“…In the context of agriculture, low-lying coastal regions, which comprise a considerable portion of global farmland and support substantial populations, confront the issue of rising sea levels as a primary challenge [1], In the maritime sector, it is described by changes in wind speed that affect the navigation of fishing activities and an increase in temperature that affects the distribution and abundance of fish species [2], extreme weather, storms, and sea level rise [3], ocean acidification [4], and El Niño and La Niña phenomena [5]. Villages are also described as locations that lack adequate resources and infrastructure [6], poor water resource management [7], poor road facilities, and market access. The communities consisted of agriculture-based rural and coastal communities.…”