THE LOCAL FOOD SECURITY SYSTEM IN REGENCY OF TIMOR TENGAH SELATAN (TTS)

Timor Tengah Selatan regency (TTS), Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) Province is one of the areas in NTT that often have food security problems such as availability, access and utilization of food; problem of availability is often caused by low food production due to little rainfall; access to difficult food due to poor infrastructure conditions; and food use is caused by the ability to process food traditionally.The problem statement in this study is whether there is a system of local food security on community at the regency of Timor Tengah Selatan. The research purpose achieved through this research was to find out the Local Food Security System of the people in the Timor Tengah Selatan regency. whereas the research method uses qualitative research methods. The technique of determining informants was done purposively. So that the informant consists of; farmers, traditional leaders, village and sub-district government officials, and officials from the Food Security and Counseling Agency in Timor Tengah Selatan regency. The data collection techniques include; in-depth interviews, participant observation, and relevant documentation techniques, regulatory documents and meeting resumes in the efforts of local food security in the South Timor Tengah regency.The results of the study show that there is a system of food security in the community, namely the system of availability, access and utilization of local food. In the system, their availability has food barns which contain corn and peanuts. Whereas in access to food they are familiar with a system of symbolic interactions if people have difficulty getting food. In terms of food utilization they have various ways of processing local ingredients into foods that have high nutritional value.The recommendations suggested in this study are for regional governments to pay attention to community values that support the local food security system.