Exploring Food Security Through Traditional Practices: A Case Study of Kasepuhan Gelaralam

Abstract

Kasepuhan Gelaralam is an indigenous community that sustains its livelihood through traditional rice cultivation, deeply embedded in cultural values and customary institutional systems. While modern food security approaches often prioritize technological and market-based solutions, indigenous cultural systems remain under-explored within multidimensional frameworks. This study examines observable cultural practices in Kasepuhan Gelaralam across six food security dimensions: availability, accessibility, utilization, stability, agency, and sustainability. Using a qualitative-descriptive ethnographic approach, data were collected through triangulation in in-depth interviews with community members, participant observation, and document analysis. The findings reveal that traditional cultivation, communal labor, and collective rice storage strongly support rice-based food security. However, vulnerabilities exist in non-rice commodities due to limited diversification, income constraints, and inadequate nutritional knowledge. These findings highlight the importance of integrating culturally grounded systems into contemporary food policies, though further focused research is required to generate deeper, context-sensitive insights.

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