IC-STCC-2022 IOP Publishing

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

Perspectives of indigenous communities on food security:

understanding local values in agricultural practice

F W Handoyo1, A Hidayatina2, M Nadjib3, Purwanto4

1234
Research Center for Behavioral and Circular Economics, the National Research and
Innovation Agency (BRIN), Jakarta, Indonesia

Email/ORCID: felixwisnuhandoyo@gmail.com1, a.hidayatina@gmail.com2,

mochammadnadjib13@gmail.com3, purwanto_7@yahoo.com4

Abstract. Kasepuhan Urug and Ciptagelar are indigenous communities consistently keep their
heredity principles in maintaining food security applied in agricultural practices and daily life.
This paper aims to explore the existence of local values in addressing their food security. By
applying qualitative research method, data and information were collected from interviews and
field observations. The results show that communities have local values as their social capital.
These values are reflected in their agricultural practices, especially paddy cultivation as their
staple food. Paddy is believed to be the embodiment of Goddess Sri as the manifestation of the
source of life. Thus, they preserve their principle as a common belief to strengthen resiliency in
food consumption. This result implies that a positive local value must be protected for
generations and government support is needed to keep the local value with an appropriate
program maintaining food security in harmony with local values.

1. Introduction
Local values are commonly reflected in a community that can manifest in a product, a norm, or a past
activity passed on to the next generation [1], [2]. A local value is established continuously because it is
binding among community members, and it has been implemented consistently for an extended period,
which may be unique in each communities. It presents uniqueness of local community that reflect their
long civilization history, incorporating with cultural values, tradition, belief, and related social factors
that has been achieved as their strong identity as indigenous community. Its identity reveals in their
way of life or action to improve well-being [3], [4]. Local values contribute to build a strong
engagement between community members to address specific needs, such as food security.
The existence of local values can be found in two indigenous communities, Kasepuhan Urug and
Ciptagelar, which has thousands of followers who live in their local territory and across the country.
The meaning of Kasepuhan itself is the people who live in the community preserved their ancestors’
way of life from time to time. This is the preservation of tradition, and local values believed as the
inheritance of their ancestors that must be held as a principle of social life [5]. They hold tradition and
local values that emerge in the agriculture system and their lives to preserve nature. These two
indigenous communities are still maintain a hereditary agricultural system from production to
consumption. The local value on agriculture system has been successfully implemented to keep the
pattern of crops and the genetics of local rice; it contributes to society's livelihood resilience. The
availability of sufficient food can maintain their food security and minimize the risk on causal disaster
vulnerability of indigenous food system [6].

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IC-STCC-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

This paper aims to explore the local values of indigenous communities in Kasepuhan Urug and
Ciptagelar in their traditional agricultural practices and their perspectives on food security. The
novelty of this paper is finding the connection between local values and the developmental aspects of
the rural community. The linkages between government intervention and community initiative to
improve community empowerment will be discussed further in development context. This paper is
organized as follows: first is the description of the existence of Urug and Ciptagelar indigenous
communities. The following section describes the method of data collection and data analysis. Results
will be presented with empirical evidence and discussion of finding in several outcomes. The last
section is the concluding remark and some general recommendations.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Materials
This paper is based on the field research in two indigenous communities, Kasepuhan Urug, Bogor
District, and Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, Sukabumi Districts, West Java Province of Indonesia. Kasepuhan
Urug is located in Kiarapandak village, Sukajaya subdistrict while Kasepuhan Ciptagelar is located in
Sirnaresmi village, Cisolok subdistrict. Those two communities separated in two districts but
geographically they are settled in the area around the remote and hilly mountainous areas of Halimun,
Salak, and Gede Pangrango Mountains. It claimed that they had been established hundreds of years
ago as the descendants of Siliwangi Kingdom that ruled these areas around the 16 th After Century
(AC). They hold their solid traditions and cultures that have been acquired from generation to
generation for hundreds of years. Their followers spreaded in some different district areas, in Banten
and West Java Provinces, such as Bogor, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Pandeglang, and Lebak districts. This
research uses the data and information from those communities as case studies to explore the
importance of local values in agricultural practices for sustainable food security.

2.2. Methods
The qualitative research was conducted in 2 (two) indigenous communities that were part of the
indigenous community of Sundanese. They were purposively selected to explore two central
indigenous communities in Sundanese. To examine the perspective of the local community on food
security, sites were selected to include their local values in protecting their traditional agricultural
practices and food security. Four-person field research teams have visited the communities to conduct
direct observation, semi-structured interviews, and life histories on agriculture practices, social capital,
land tenure, tradition, belief, and livelihood. Attempts were made to select respondents from their local
leader to community members and neighbourhood communities that are not part of the indigenous
community but live in their surrounding areas. In our presentation of results, we refer to the qualitative
findings in providing insights from two indigenous communities that tell similar or different stories
about their communities. This qualitative method was proper to understand a model for local food
security in Indonesia using both local values and government programs.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Developmental Aspects in Kasepuhan Territory: Traditional Agricultural Practices
Agricultural practices initially developed from shifting and utilizing forest land use within
community’s territory. Over time, they settled in hilly mountainous areas with a terraced/stepped
agricultural system applied to adjust the contours of the existing land. The sustainability of traditional
agricultural practices is maintained due to the availability of land, which is also well maintained. This
can happen because, in terms of land ownership status, the residents do not have property rights but
customary land or cultivated land in forest areas. From the Kasepuhan area, there are three types of
land areas: protected forest, which is a prohibited forest area. This protected forest is highly respected
and must be preserved. The forest products from this area cannot be taken for commercial purposes.
The second is a conservation forest which may be used in a limited way, for example, from non-timber
forest products. The third is open forest, divided into two: settlements and open spaces and agriculture,

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IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

fisheries, animal husbandry, and plantations. The customary leader must approve all forms of use, and
no one gets private ownership of the land for either production or settlement purposes.
Farmers are the primary profession of the indigenous people of Urug and Ciptagelar. Rice field
farming is their main area of cultivation with two farming systems, namely the cultivation system in
dry field and rice field system. Rice has a sacred meaning to the figure of Dewi Sri (Goddess Sri),
namely the manifestation of the source of life. Dewi Sri is closely related to the concept of feminism
in the universe, namely personification in respecting "mother of earth," symbolized by fertility and
reproduction. The exciting thing about hereditary culture is the prohibition on selling agricultural
products in the form of paddy or rice, which is continuously maintained as conveyed by interviewees
The farming system uses simple irrigation and traditional tools such as mortar, crab, and buffalo to
plow the fields. The rice seeds used in their agriculture practices are also chosen from their local
varieties. Community adaptation to environmental changes is carried out by life values that uphold
harmony with the environment to create an orderly, peaceful and safe life [5]. This can be seen from
the community's various philosophies, including the philosophy of "mipit kudu amit, ngala kudu
menta," which means that every time they start to the planting season, they must pray to ask God’s
permission for the smoothness process so that they will enjoy an abundant production [7].
Determination of time-based on natural signs calculations is a form of knowledge controlled by the
village, Kikolot, who is the local leader himself, as conveyed by resource person at the research site.

“Determining the rice planting period by looking at natural signs such as observing the
appearance of the [constellation] star as a reference…if the terms are straight [the
existence of the stars is at a certain point] .... [then] we can [start to] plant rice…”[8].

For example, the local leader has a good knowledge on when the period of rat pests are not
developing, and when the bird pests are not rampant at the time of harvesting paddy. The Kasepuhan
community also treats animals that are considered pests more wisely by stating that the community
should live with other living creatures.
People's perspective on life that respects other living creatures makes the agricultural system no
need for exterminators. Rice planting is carried out once a year and carried out together is a farming
strategy to avoid large numbers of pests that can disrupt agricultural production or crop failure. All the
paddy crops produced without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The variety of the paddy would be
harvest in seven or eight months on average. The local seeds variety name are rajawesi, sri kemuning,
jalupang, gadog, and carci kuning that has been maintained from ancient times [7], [9]. However, by
the interviews in Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, they stated have much more the variety of the local paddy
seeds with amount of 167 variants that have been developed and maintained from many generations
[10]. In addition, the type of paddy seeds would be selected for the cultivation based on local
community leader’s advice by considering some determinant factors related to the natural conditions.
The activity of planting and harvesting rice always begins with a series of traditional ceremonies
and is celebrated life as a form of respect for rice. Starting from the process of spreading and planting
seeds (ngaseuk), fertilizing/maintaining (sawenan), cutting rice (mipit), tasting harvests (nganyaran),
land clearing and preparation for simultaneous harvests (ponggokan), to the peak of the harvest
celebration (serentaun), all have a special ceremonial ritual led by a local leader. In general, the whole
process of cultivating lowland rice takes about seven months. When the rice is ready to be harvested,
the implementation begins through the "mipit" ceremony procession, namely harvesting rice using
traditional tools.
The annual cycle in traditional agricultural activities ends with a "serentaun" party or harvest party,
with one of the main activities being storing the harvest in a leuit. All annual processions in the
Kasepuhan community are led by Abah/Kikolot, who has a dual role as a leader and, at the same time,
an elder. The harvest will be "cleaned up”, among others, set aside for alms, replacement of some
seeds used, allocation of daily needs, divided among family/relatives or people who are respected as a
sign of gratitude, and the rest will be stored for daily needs. Furthermore, saved as savings. With the

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IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

principle of not selling the rice harvest, there is hope that the life of the traditional village will always
be prosperous, with sufficient food stock.

3.2. Literacy on Food Security Among Indigenous Communities

The results of research by Ambayoen et al (2018) [11] show that the food strategy of the Kasepuhan
community is through a system of customary rules that instruct residents to continue to process paddy
and rice according to the teachings of their ancestors. Meanwhile, the results of Darjanto (2015) [12]
show that the food security of the community is based on the once-a-year rice cropping pattern as
taught by the ancestors, which creates a balance between humans, nature, and God. In terms of food
security, the Kasepuhan people claimed that they have never experienced prolonged hunger or rice
shortages for their citizens. Rice as staple food becomes the main commodity that must be maintained
properly for community’s food security.
People will feel secure in term of food security as long as they have enough rice. It means that
another nutrition intake is not compulsory but necessarily needed to maintain their daily diet. Their
knowledge on food security is dominantly based on their capacity to provide sufficient rice for their
family, while other nutritious food is complementary. The food literacy in these indigenous
communities is slightly different with the common concept that included nutrition, health and physical
well-being which involves the communal knowledge of broader food system as important parameter
[13], [14]. The formal knowledge of food security is clear but sometimes it does not interact favorably
with a community-based informal knowledge [15]. It means that the enrichment of food literacy is
necessary to enhance community’s food security [15].
The ownership of leuit (barn) for storing rice in each family is a form of community internalization
of traditional beliefs to avoid starvation. The concept of traditional paddy barn is also used to maintain
community food security [16]. It can be stated that the inheritance of local belief on rice has
contributed to food resilience.

Figure 1. Concept of Traditional Paddy Barn and Food Security

3.3. The Implication of Local Values in Inclusiveness

The traditional belief came from the ancestors’ inheritance, namely King Siliwangi (Prabu Siliwangi)
of Pakuan Padjajaran Empire [17]. Moreover, these indigenous communities have followed the state
rule by elaborating the traditional rules (there are three pillars or principles of community in
Kasepuhan, namely: sara’ (follow the good deeds of religious norm); nagara (follow the government
rule); and mokhaha (protect the local values and belief) [5]. The role of local community leader is very
important to synchronize those two rules which are state and traditional beliefs. All things in the
communities have been regulated such as they should do nothing for any agriculture activities on

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IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

Friday and Sunday, and prohibited to destroy the forest. They should obey the prohibition if not they
will get karma or disaster for themselves.
The indigenous leader has absolute authorization on the people life or the followers, in terms of the
way of life and livelihoods that are depending on the paddy agriculture. In Kasepuhan Urug, people
are still believed in the prohibition on a local rule or taboos that were inherited by their ancestors and
the implementation of its local rules is managed by Abah [9], [18]. The role of local leader indigenous
community has played significant to their follower or people life. As a figure, the people put high
respect on him so that his advice is always heard and his orders is always obeyed.
Every local ceremony is always involved their people. It included the planning, preparing, funding,
and implementing the ceremony. For example, Ciptagelar has local traditional meeting once a month
every 13-night calender of Hijri (Arabic-based calendar) for the agenda, called as opat belasan [10].
That meeting will discuss the plan and evaluation of the community programs in their area. The
meeting is usually to decide the time of several local ceremonies [10]. The biggest event of
community engagement is Serah Ponggokan that will discuss the annual local traditional ceremony
called Serentaun. The discussion is about contribution of each family, and other people, as well as the
evaluation of the kasepuhan program as a whole. Serah Ponggokan is also a momentum to explain the
harmonization of the government programs with the indigenous community. These activities is part of
the social capital indicators that let everybody to participate, cooperate, and contribute to the
communities [19].
The role of local community leader is played significantly on the paddy cropping that should be
done at the same time by helping each other, known as gotong royong (communal work). This is a part
of social capital for the village people in Indonesia [20], [21]. The communal work that applied in
Urug and Ciptagelar is based on the inheritance values of the ancestors in many generations. The
strong bond on their local tradition and culture are not directly make people became resistant, instead,
people tend to be more adaptive and absorptive to the new value in their way of life. There are many
adjustment as part of adaptive response, such as the harmonization between traditional and religious
rules [22].

3.4. Government Role in Supporting Local Values for Rural Development

Sectoral approaches in development through several program has been central to most top-down or
state-led development. As can be seen from Table 1, the agriculture practice in indigenous community
is more dominantly led by community initiative. The government may able to intervene the agriculture
practice during production process with proper technology. In response to such conditions, a shift from
general to site-specific rural development policy has been suggested in which the local culture and
values are considered as an integral part of this development approach. As a result, increasing
attention is being given to community-based development by implementing bottom-up approaches and
acknowledge culture, value, territory, and local diversity in optimizing local resources.

Table 1. The Developmental Aspect of Traditional Agriculture Practices in Urug and Ciptagelar
Agricultural Practices
Pre-production Production Post Production
Developmental Community-led development √ √ √
Aspect State-led development x √ x

The existence of the Abah as a central figure among community member provides various social
and economic solutions for the community. In Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, problems related to the economy
are solved by voluntary alms collected during harvest time. At Kasepuhan Urug, the community often
asks for advice and permits for agricultural use on forest land/national parks. The community make
their local leader with a high sense of trust that makes community resilience [23]. Further, the
followers are not limited to residents who live and settle in the village but also those who migrate

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IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1105 (2022) 012007 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012007

outside the village, they remain part of the communities who can return to meet their extended family,
especially at annual events and ceremonies, organized by the community. Their high community
loyalty is strengthen the social capital among community’s member [19].
The role of the government becomes minimum because it cannot intervene without the approval of
the customary head. Government’s development programs and assistance to the community must be
adapted to the prevailing customs and customary rules. The significant role in the community, the
indigenous leader is also influenced the formal government policy. Either village government or sub-
district government is usually involved the indigenous leader as a mediator to deliver the government
messages on development’s program. Moreover, the leader is also filtered every single program from
the government to decide which one program aligned with the local traditional rules and preservation.

4. Conclusions
Kasepuhan Urug and Ciptagelar are indigenous communities that consistently maintain their customs.
Both kasepuhan participate in maintaining, managing, and utilizing natural resources using local
wisdom, a strong character possessed by the people. This is evident in the traditional farming system,
and their treatment of rice or paddy can maintain and increase food security among community
member. Farming life for the indigenous community is carried out not merely as a job but also as part
of life. The livelihood resilience is achieved because they can produce rice just for their own
consumption and this initiative can be included as a type of society-led development.
The central role of the local leader in all matters is the direction and reference of the community
that faithfully maintains customs. Efforts to maintain these customs do not merely refer to
conventional traditional lifestyles. Instead, Urug and Ciptagelar has become innovative by developing
various local rice and traditional techniques to overcome the potential treat in farming production
process. The accumulation of knowledge based on experience running for a long time can properly
produce good agricultural products and avoid crop failure and shortages of staple food rice, thus
strengthen its food security. Calculation based on the nature sign and phenomenon in the rice cropping
pattern is an advantage of the knowledge that more modern agricultural societies have abandoned.
This proves that the Urug and Ciptagelar have adapted to modern life without losing the existing
traditional guidelines. These result implies that the government can support indigenous communities
with various development policy interventions adapted to traditional values and local culture. The
good synergy between the government and the community can be carried out through a dialogue
process with traditional leaders to determine the community's needs without disturbing their beliefs
and obeying their customary rules.

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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Research Center for Behavioral and Circular Economics, the National
Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia which supported this study. We also
acknowledged our colleagues, namely Syarif Hidayat, Maxensius Tri Sambodo, Hari Susanto, Ernany
Dwi Astuti, Umi Karomah Yaumidin, Joko Suryanto, Chitra Indah Yuliana, and Atika Zahra
Rahmayanti for their valuable contribution during our constructive discussion.

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