{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1588558,
        "msgid": "assessing-rice-prices-through-the-labour-of-female-farm-workers-1772665058",
        "date": "2026-03-05 05:10:00",
        "title": "Assessing Rice Prices Through the Labour of Female Farm Workers",
        "author": "Riky Wismiron",
        "source": "MEDIA_INDONESIA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Agriculture",
        "summary": "In the last five years, consumer rice prices have risen, with 2024 average prices up 6% to Rp15,308 per kilogram for medium quality. The piece argues that while price growth benefits farmers, the welfare of female farm workers is deteriorating due to stagnant wages and rising costs, and policy responses like imports and land conversion affect supply and wage dynamics, underscoring the need for inclusive policies.",
        "content": "<p>In the last five years, consumer rice prices have continued to rise.\nAccording to BPS, throughout 2024 the average annual price rose by 6% to\nreach Rp15,308 per kilogram for medium quality. This price increase is\noften seen as good news for farmers. However, the welfare of farm\nworkers, especially women, has become increasingly precarious. According\nto BPS, national rice production has declined by about 0.18% per year,\nalthough in 2025 it rose again, stimulated by policies towards\nself-sufficiency in rice. On the other hand, national rice demand has\ngrown by 0.8% per year. The gap between supply and demand pushes prices\nhigher. But this applies only at the downstream node of the rice market\nsupply chain. The increases occur more on the downstream side due to the\ncascading effects of distribution and the weak bargaining position\nupstream. This is clearly an irony in our food system: prices are high\nfor consumers, low for farmers, and farm workers\u2019 wages do not rise,\nespecially for female workers. A key part of the food production process\nis that female rice farmers are a crucial part of the production, and\ntheir contributions are often unseen and not fully recognised in policy\nor protection schemes. Female farm workers undertake essential work from\nplanting to harvest, paid with lower wages on a daily basis and without\nadequate social protection. When rice prices rise, their wages do not\nrise. They are highly dependent on the rice fields. Rice production is\nconstrained by land conversion and extreme weather. The conversion of\npaddy land to non-agricultural areas continues, especially in Java,\nBali, and Lombok. Existing regulations are not fully effective in\ncontrolling conversion of paddy land, particularly in peri-urban areas\nfacing infrastructure, industrial and housing development. These\nprocesses reduce the extent of raw paddy land and fragment land,\nlowering farming efficiency and irrigation management. This has\nwide-ranging impacts, including reduced employment opportunities for\nfemale farm workers who depend on planting and harvesting seasons. Our\nstudy led by Dr Yanti N Muflikh, in collaboration with The University of\nQueensland, BRIN, UGM, UMY, Parti Gastronomi, and CHIPS through the\nMyIndah Diet\u2013KONEKSI 2025 GEDSI-based project, found that development\npressure has deepened economic vulnerability while increasing the\nworkload on women in the food system. Climate change causes unstable\ncropping seasons, with shifts in the start of the rainy season and\nhigher frequencies of floods, droughts, and pests, raising the risk of\ncrop failure, inflating production costs, and reducing productivity.\nFarmers face rising risk of losses; for farm workers, changes create\nsevere vulnerability as they depend solely on rice production. Older\nfemale farm workers are particularly vulnerable due to their dependence\non day labour without asset reserves. To maintain domestic supply, the\ngovernment relies on imports; over the past five years rice imports rose\nby around 65% per year, with 2024 imports reaching 4.5 million tonnes, a\nstriking figure for an economy that claims to be a rice producer, though\nin 2025 consumption imports were reportedly halted. Nevertheless, rice\nimport policy can help price stability and consumer affordability, but\nit can also depress farmers\u2019 incomes and reduce incentives, especially\nfor female farmers. While the policy direction toward self-sufficiency\nis commendable, without inclusive attention to female farm workers who\nare the backbone of rice production, policy towards self-sufficiency may\nremain a dream. A comprehensive and inclusive understanding of female\nworkers\u2019 issues can help address them; most work on daily wages and are\ndetached from rice price dynamics. Rising rice prices do not translate\ninto higher earnings for them. Rural female farm workers are diminishing\nas younger women are drawn to manufacturing or migrate. The double\nburden: as consumers they pay high prices for rice, while as workers\nthey do not see higher incomes. They are also squeezed by rising input\ncosts not matched by the price of their harvested paddy. Market power\nimbalances and weak social protection leave female farm workers\nincreasingly vulnerable to price shocks and production uncertainty; when\nprices fall or harvest fails, this quickly becomes a crisis for them.\nThese conditions drive farm worker households to tighten spending as a\nsurvival strategy.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/assessing-rice-prices-through-the-labour-of-female-farm-workers-1772665058",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}