The structural analysis of the farming systems resilience after the Covid-19 pandemic in West Timor, Indonesia

Abstract

Although Indonesia has recorded good performance in its national economic development, especially in the agriculture sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of the pandemic on farming and food systems has not been evaluated yet. This study has evaluated the resilience of the two dominant existing farming systems in West Timor, i.e. (i) wetland farming system and (ii) dryland farming system. This research aims to understand the resilience of farming after the Covid-19 pandemic and to develop strategic policies that could be adopted to increase the resilience of the farming system in West Timor. A quantitative analysis using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to evaluate the relationship and impact of the following seven generic aspects: labour movement, sustainability, economy, socio- culture, output markets, input markets, farming system resilience, and 27 reflective indicators. The analysis shows that dryland farming systems are more resilient than wetland farming systems. It might be understood from the size of the regression coefficient, as the impact of exogenous construct variables of the environment, socioculture, input, and output on the resilience of dryland farming systems is more significant than on wetlands. Economic performance rather than labour movement factors will create better resilience of farming systems for wetland or dryland after the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, the economic recovery process and the ongoing input supply mechanism after the Covid-19 pandemic have increased the resilience of the dryland food system more than the resilience of the wetland farming system.