Effect of rural road improvement on the main source of income changes: Evidence from brackishwater villages in Indonesia

Abstract

Infrastructure improvement is one of the driving forces behind growth and structural changes in the village economy. This study aims to determine the impact of improvements in rural infrastructure, particularly connecting roads between villages, on the direction of changes in the main income sources in most rural areas. This study focuses on rural brackishwater aquaculture. This study relied primarily on secondary village-level data and qualitative insights from focus group discussions in districts known for brackishwater aquaculture. The results indicate that the role of brackishwater aquaculture as the economic foundation of villages has changed over the past decade. The percentage of villages whose economic bases remained the same was approximately 56 %, those that shifted to other sectors was 27 %, and those that transitioned from other sectors to brackishwater aquaculture was approximately 17 %.