Reducing Stunting through Trade Reforms: Analysis of Food Prices and Stunting Prevalence in Indonesia

Abstraksi

One in three Indonesian children under five years old suffers from stunting. This undernutrition problem mostly affects those in the lowest quartiles of income (TNP2K, 2017). As this population has a low purchasing power, they are forced to consume a limited variety of foods that are affordable but lacking in protein (DiSantis et al., 2013; Meerman and Aphane, 2012). While many studies have been written about the government’s attempts to eradicate undernutrition, few have observed the relationship between food affordability and the incidence of stunting in Indonesia. The study measured the relationship between food prices and stunting incidence in Indonesia. We used Probit Regression to estimate the association between both variables by using consumption levels as an intermediary variable, as there is no direct relationship between food price and stunting incidence. Our study found that there is a negatively significant association between food price levels and consumption levels for all food models observed (namely rice, beef, chicken meat, egg, and fish) and also a similar association between consumption levels and the probability of having stunted children for all food models observed. We found that for each IDR 1000 of food prices increases, there is an increase of probability of a household to have a stunted child ranging between 0.8-6.4%, holding other variables constant. As the application of non-tariff trade restrictions causes higher prices of almost all observed food commodities (Marks, 2017), this study recommends the re-evaluation on non-tariff measures, in order to help reduce food prices and eventually lead to decreasing the incidence of stunting.