The Adaptation Strategies of a Community’s Food Production and Consumption Within a Small Island Ecosystem (A Case Study at Karampuang Island in Mamuju District, West Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Abstract

Restricted production facilities for fishermen and marginal land ownership have triggerred low living standard for communities on small islands. This negatively impacts on community members’ ability to fulfill household food needs. Therefore, long-term survival requires a pattern of adaptation by the social environment of the community. This study examines and analyzes the strategies of a single community’s food production and consumption within an island ecosystem. Case study research was chosen in order to provide in-depth exploration and description of the adaptation patterns of the community’s food production and consumption on Karampuang Island. The data were collected using in-depth interviews supplemented by focus group discussions and field observations in order to comprehensively explore the social and economic lives of community members. The results indicated that the adaptation strategies of the community’s food production in Karampuang Island included a double livelihood strategy. Gendered division of labor was found to utilize the optimal potential of household workers: men were responsible to do fishing in the sea and work as wage laborers in Mamuju City while women were responsible for selling the fish to market in Mamuju City market, and worked as laundry women and shopkeepers. The food consumption adaptation strategy among people in Karampuang Island was accomplished by diversifying food between cassava and rice.