Food Security: Perspectives from the Bidayuh Community, Sarawak, Malaysia

Food security is a significant global concern and has been debated for decades. Its importance was further emphasized when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included zero hunger as one of its goals. However, food security is a multifaceted and subjective concept, as reflected in its evolving definitions since the 1970s. The most widely accepted definition describes food security as a condition in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary requirements and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This encompasses four dimensions: availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability. Given the subjective nature of the concept of food security and its mostly Western-based definitions, it is crucial to explore how food security is understood within local contexts. This paper examines the concept of food security from the viewpoint of the Bidayuh community, an indigenous group in Sarawak. The discussion is based on data from 211 Bidayuh respondents residing in Padawan, Sarawak, with different gender, socio-economic backgrounds, and age groups. The online data collection took place between October 2021 to March 2022. This approach was adopted in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which restricted fieldwork and in-person interviews during that period. The findings reveal that over half of the participants were unfamiliar with the term “food security.” The findings reveal that food security, to the respondents, is not merely about having enough food but also includes dimensions of food safety, nutrition, and health.