An investigation of farmer adaptation under multiple social-ecological stressors in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

With tropical climate, fertile soils and relatively plentiful water sources across its islands, Indonesia is a key producer of a range of different agricultural products. This abundance of agricultural products is mainly grown by smallholder farmers. In this era of disruptive climate change small-scale agriculture is vulnerable and constantly exposed to multiple environmental and socio-economic stressors. This has significant implications for farmers’ livelihoods and the local food production. Therefore it is important to understand the complexity of the combined impacts of climatic and non-climatic stressors affecting farmers. The myriad lived experiences and aspirations of the local farmers in Indonesia remain not well understood, particularly in terms of their association with bigger systems. This research builds on previous adaptation studies by exploring Indonesian farmers’ experiences of multiple stressors and employing an interdisciplinary approach that brings together a critical planning perspective with the concepts of social-ecological systems (SES) and multiple stressors. The questions underpinning this research are: ‘How do farmers in an Indonesian region perceive the social-environmental stressors that affect them?’; ‘How do they respond to these stressors?’; and ‘What components of adaptive capacity do they envisage will enable them to continue farming into the future?’ To address these questions, a case study was undertaken in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where agricultural activities are threatened by rapid urbanisation. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews and farm observations. Listening to the voices of smallholder farmers is critical in establishing equitable adaptation policies which prioritise the necessities of vulnerable populations. Understanding farmers’ responses, their strategies to maintain their livelihood in the face of multiple stressors and how they build their adaptive capacity is critical to help planners and policy makers in designing policies that support farmers’ adaptive capacity and build resilient agriculture. This research found that farmers in Yogyakarta encountered multiple interconnected social-environmental stressors. The following issues were perceived by the participating farmers as stressors for them: (1) climate change and extreme weather events, (2) increasing pests and diseases, (3) declining soil quality, (4) water shortage and contamination, (5) volcanic hazards, (6) low regional competitiveness, (7) market uncertainties, (8) limited money and increasing costs, (9) decreasing agricultural land and (10) declining numbers of farmers. This research revealed interactions amongst these stressors and participants’ responses show that the socio-economic stressors were perceived as having more immediate impacts than environmental changes. This finding supports the existing understanding of adaptation, by emphasising that stressors must be considered as interacting and multidimensional. Responses to these multiple stressors include both short-term and long-term strategies. Some potentially maladaptive responses were identified, but the findings also show how short-term coping strategies have been undertaken by farmers in transitioning to sustainable agriculture. Farmers need to cope to immediate stressors while simultaneously adapting to long-term stressors. This finding challenges the coping-adapting dichotomy in the existing literature. This research also builds on the current understanding of adaptation by showing how farmers develop adaptation through a reimagination of an ancient farming wisdom. This research also found six aspects of adaptive capacity identified by the farmers in Yogyakarta which are either embedded in the farmers’ current adaptive responses or seen as important for enhancing or limiting adaptation: (1) awareness and understanding of stressors, (2) social capital, (3) access to natural resources, modern technology and financial capital, (4) crop diversity, (5) market opportunities, and (6) governance, regulation and planning. Indeed, the results of my analysis on adaptive capacity challenge the dichotomy of adaptive capacity in the existing literature by showing how social and environmental dimensions of adaptive capacity are connected. This research also contributes to the urban and regional planning literature by identifying three perceived roles of planning for supporting farmer adaptive capacity: (1) preserving agricultural land; (2) managing cropping patterns; and (3) supporting the development of urban farming. This emphasises the need for planning-agriculture integration in adaptation governance. The finding also indicates that social capital plays a role as a connector for obtaining access to other kinds of capital. Reinforcing the existing literature that overlooks the negative sides of social capital, this research reveals that the utilisation of social bonds can produce either adaptation or potentially maladaptive responses. My work also adds to the existing understanding of dynamic adaptive capacity by identifying how adaptive capacity varied across time and space, and the tension between farmer agency and socio-economic structure. In terms of policy, this research contributes to improvement of the current policy framework on planning for sustainable and resilient agriculture by providing a direction for adaptation and planning policies to bring more attention to the farmer lived experience of multiple stressors. Understanding of local context and community engagement should be a stronger dimension of policy and planning for farmer adaptation. This research also suggests that in Yogyakarta and other regions facing similar circumstances, adaptation policies should be integrated with planning policy and socio-economic development strategies.