Exploring the Role of Food Security in Stunting Prevention Efforts in the Bondowoso Community, Indonesia

Gunawan Prayitno (), Aidha Auliah, Lilik Zuhriyah, Achmad Efendi, Syamsul Arifin, Rahmawati Rahmawati, Achmad Tjachja Nugraha and Enock Siankwilimba
Additional contact information
Gunawan Prayitno: Department of Regional and Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65142, Indonesia
Aidha Auliah: Department of Regional and Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65142, Indonesia
Lilik Zuhriyah: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia
Achmad Efendi: Department of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia
Syamsul Arifin: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia
Rahmawati Rahmawati: Department of Regional and Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65142, Indonesia
Achmad Tjachja Nugraha: Agribusiness Department, Syarif Hidayatullah State University Jakarta, South Tangerang 15412, Indonesia
Enock Siankwilimba: Graduate School of Business, University of Zambia, Lusaka 50516, Zambia

Societies, 2025, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Stunting—defined by the World Health Organization as a height-for-age z-score < −2 SD—signals chronic undernutrition that impairs both physical and cognitive development. This study investigates how the three pillars of food security (availability, access, utilization) influence stunting prevention efforts in the Bondowoso Regency, East Java, Indonesia. A cross-sectional survey of 113 mothers of stunted children (0–59 months) was analysed with Structural Equation Modelling using Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM). The model reveals significant positive paths from food security pillars to composite stunting prevention behaviours (β = 0.18–0.86, p < 0.05), with availability emerging as the strongest predictor. These findings highlight food security as a lever for reducing the local stunting prevalence (local 32% vs. national 24.4%) and provide evidence for community-based nutrition programmes in similar agrarian districts. Strengthening food security is therefore essential to safeguarding child well-being in vulnerable Indonesian communities.

Keywords: food security; stunting; prevention strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/5/135/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/5/135/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:135-:d:1656019

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().