Assessing Actual Coffee Farmers’ Food Security: Adaptation Strategy toward Food Estate Development in Gayo Highlands, Indonesia

Food estate programs in the Gayo Highlands have the potential to disrupt traditional coffee farming practices by promoting monoculture systems, which may undermine local knowledge and cultural values. This shift increases farmers’ vulnerability to market fluctuations, climate change, and agrarian conflicts, posing significant financial stability and food security risks. This study assesses food security indicators amidst food estate program development, offering location-specific strategies to enhance coffee farmers’ resilience. A quantitative approach was employed from June to October 2024 in Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah, Indonesia, involving 240 coffee farmers as respondents. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), validated through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure (0.535) and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (χ²= 66.245; p = 0.048) confirm the model’s adequacy for dimensionality reduction. The study identified six important key of food security indicators: vehicleownership (food availability), the share of food expenditure (food access), household size (food utilization), dwelling conditions, household head’s education level, and the age of the household head’s wife (food stability). The PCA results extracted three principal components, explaining 56.70% of the total variance (Factor 1 = 19.78%, Factor 2 = 18.93%, Factor 3 = 17.99%). The findings reveal that coffee farmers prioritize household conditions over farming investments, focusing on short-term survival strategies rather than long-term sustainability. This trade-off limits their ability to adapt to market volatility and climate change. Therefore, a balanced approach integrating improved farming practices with economic literacy, market access skills, and climate adaptation strategies is essential to strengthen agricultural resilience and ensure sustainable livelihoods. Key words: Adaptation strategy; coffee growers; food resilience; household self-sufficiency.