STUDENTS:MELLI SURYANTY SN
Nationality: INDONESIA
Name of United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences:Tottori University
Assigned university:Tottori university
Courses:Bioproduction and Bioenvironmental Sciences
Division: Managerial Economics
Research theme:Rural Household Food Consumption in Bengkulu, Indonesia: Estimating a Demand System Based on SUSENAS Microdata
Obtained (planned) degree/date:博士（農学） 2025年3月 取得（予定）
Message
In my first-year study, my research estimates the food demand of rural households in Bengkulu Province, Indonesia, using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) and microdata from the SUSENAS. SUSENAS is an Indonesia’s microdata set about each individual’s education, housing, household consumption and expenditures, and public opinion about their welfare. It collected annually by Indonesia Central Statistics Agency (BPS). In my research, I aggregate SUSENAS’s data food into five groups: staple food, animal source food, vegetables & fruits, prepared food, and other food. The results show that demand for animal source food is the most sensitive to food expenditure, whereas the demand for staple food is the most expenditure-inelastic. Staple food, animal source food, vegetables & fruits, and other food are substitutes for each other. On the other hand, prepared food and staple food complement each other. Other food is the easiest to be substituted, and staple food is the most difficult to be substituted. The demographic variables, as well as prices and expenditures, impact household demand. For example, as family size increases, the demand for staple food increases, while the demand for animal source food, vegetables & fruits decreases. The number of children under five years old has a positive impact on animal source food demand but a negative impact on staple food and other food demand. Staple farmer households have a higher need for staple food than non-agricultural households. Due to being unmarried, divorced or bereaved, single households have a lower demand for staple food but a higher demand for prepared food.
For my second-year study, my research focus to estimate the effects of COVID-19 on food demand in rural Indonesia, in the case of Bengkulu Province. In this study, I also use SUSENAS data. I collect data on food consumption, household expenditure, and demographic data in rural households in Bengkulu for five years (2017-2021). I take the data from 2017 to 2019 as the phase “before” the COVID-19 outbreak and from 2020 to 2021 as the phase “after” the COVID-19 outbreak. Then I transform them into a dummy variable to estimate the effect of COVID-19 on food demand, with 1 representing “after” and 0 representing “before” the outbreak of COVID-19. The effect of COVID-19 on food demand will estimate by using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS).