Diet and nutrition transition in Indonesia:

What is the role of the “supermarket revolution”?

Presented by:

A/Professor Wendy Umberger,

Director Global Food Studies, University of Adelaide

Co-authors: Hery Toiba, Nicholas Minot and Xiaobo He

 

Abstract

Indonesia is a rapidly growing lower-middle income country in the midst of a “supermarket revolution.”  As in many other developing countries, the number of supermarkets, hypermarkets, and minimarts has increased rapidly over the past decade, particularly since the liberalization of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997.  The proliferation of modern food retailers, particularly multinationals, is in response to a rising middle class that can afford to pay somewhat higher prices for convenience, food quality, food safety, and product variety.

 

The resulting transformation of food chains has profound effects on the market conditions faced by both producers and consumers. The effect of this growth on farmers, particularly small-scale growers of fresh fruits and vegetables, has been the topic a substantial body of research. There is increasing speculation that supermarket penetration is one cause of the dramatic shift in Asian diets towards more Westernized diets, typified by increased consumption of more refined carbohydrates, fats and oils, sugars, and increasingly more processed foods and fewer fresh fruits and vegetables. Previous researchers have found that when consumers in some developing countries start using supermarkets their diet quality decreases as highly processed and high-fat foods replace less refined and more nutrient rich foods. Despite the important role of supermarkets in the transformation of food markets, few studies have examined their impact on diet quality and the related nutritional and health implications.

 

This research sheds light on the relationship between diet transformation and modern retail format usage by consumers in Indonesia. A sample of households from three Indonesian cities, Surabaya, Bogor, and Surakarta was obtained using stratified multi-stage random sampling methods considering household income and distance to nearest hypermarket or supermarket. Trained enumerators interviewed 1180 households during November 2010 to January 2011. The survey assessed the following household characteristics: food purchase and consumption behavior (including retail format where purchased, expenditures, average monthly consumption and change in consumption over 5 years) of 67 different categories of foods; use, attitudes, and preferences towards retail formats; and socio-demographic information (assets, income, employment status, age, education etc.).

 

We first examined changes in Indonesian households’ per capita consumption of food categories comparing consumption changes across household expenditure quintiles. Regression analyses were then used to explore the relationship between expenditures shares on different food categories (healthy vs. unhealthy), body mass index of adults and children, socio-demographic variables and share of food expenditures at modern outlets. We found evidence that the growing importance of modern food retailers may well lead to a rising share of the food budget being allocated to less healthy foods.  In addition, there is evidence that consumers who use modern food retailers are more likely to have an obese person in the household, though causality is difficult to establish.

 

The co-authors are respectively a PhD Student, Global Food Studies, University of Adelaide; a Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute; and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Global Food Studies, University of Adelaide.  We would like to acknowledge, without implicating, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for funding this research as part of project #ADP/2005/006 “Markets for high-value commodities in Indonesia: Promoting competitiveness and inclusiveness”. 

 

The project was a collaborative effort, implemented by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the University of Adelaide, Michigan State University, the Indonesian Centre for Agriculture, Socio-Economic, and Policy Studies (ICASEPS), the Centre for Agrifood Policy and Agribusiness Studies (CAPAS).  ICASEPS is a research institute affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and based in Bogor.  CAPAS is affiliated with the University of Padjadjaran in Bandung.  We are grateful to the support and knowledge provided by all of the project team, particularly ICASEPS.

 

You would be most welcome.