The overall purpose of this research project is to document the experience of the poor in facing food price volatility, in a form that enables common, policy-relevant insights into how food price volatility plays out in developing countries.

As a continuation of the qualitative assessment of the impact of global crises (fuel, food, and financial), conducted from 2008 to 2010 (part of a five-country study coordinated by IDS), SMERU is participating in a four-year study supported by Oxfam GB and IDS under the title Ensuring Food and Nutrition Security in a Time of Volatility. This cross-country study is an important component of Oxfam’s global, four-year GROW campaign on food security in a resource-constrained world, guaranteeing a high profile in communications and influencing work in a range of multilateral and national forums. 

This four-year qualitative study started in 2012 and was conducted in three villages located in Kabupaten Bekasi, Cianjur, and Banjar, which were visited every year for three-year period (2012, 2013 and 2014). The third phase of the study (started in 2014) was focusing on “Changing food habits: views on processed and unsafe foods”, with field work conducted in September 2014. 

During 2015, the research team has completed all the field notes, and drafted the year-3 national report and an article to be published in IDS Bulletin. The research coordinator, together with the coordinators from other countries and the IDS-Oxfam global team, attended a meeting to prepare articles for a special edition of the IDS Bulletin, or a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of IDS, with the theme “Life in A Time of Food Price Volatility”. In addition, the research team was also preparing year 4 activities plan consisted of series of research dissemination events in the sample villages and sample districts as well as at national level, finalizing year-3 report and developing final systesis report for the whole study. 

In February and March, SMERU researchers organized a local and national dissemination session in Bekasi, Cianjur, Banjar and Jakarta. Currently, The SMERU team completing the dissemination report for the sample and central area.