Emerging ‘Agricultural Involution’ in Indonesia: Impact of Natural Hazards and Climate Extremes on Agricultural Crops and Food System

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The nature of does nothing in itself to stimulate the growing of agricultural crops but it can insure the non-growing of them (Geertz, 1963). The nongrowing and loss of crops due to biophysical and geophysical processes have been interpreted as risks and catastrophes that human being need to anticipate. This paper asks: what were the impacts of natural catastrophes on Indonesian agricultural crops during the last four decades? And what are the options available to mitigate future agriculture loss and safeguard food production in Indonesia? The quantitative analysis is based on two national datasets from Indonesia, namely the Disaster Loss data from Agricultural Statistics produced by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2009 and an online disaster database from the National Disaster Management Office updated in March 2012. This research concludes that Indonesia can achieve better food production by adopting multiloss mitigation scenarios. The chapter further highlights the impact of climate change on Indonesian agriculture, and existing policy instruments concerning disaster risk reduction in agricultural sectors. In addition, it makes policy recommendations for the Indonesian government and the international community regarding alternative solutions towards agricultural resilience.