The Impact of Food Security on Economic Growth through Interaction with Poverty Levels

Food security has a significant impact on economic aspects, poverty levels, and the quality of human resources in a region. Food security issues are something that must be watched out by the East Java Provincial government. The high population and poverty level can cause problems in economic growth in East Java Province. The purpose of the study is to determine how the poverty level can strengthen or weaken the relationship between economic growth and food security as measured from the Food Availability Index, Food Affordability Index, and Food Utilization Index. This research is important because food security not only talks about food consumption for the community but also how food availability, affordability, and utilization can be the basis of sustainable development. The data used are secondary data from the Central Bureau of Statistics of East Java Province and the Indonesian National Food Agency. This research was conducted with a quantitative approach using Moderation Regression Analysis (MRA) method on panel data. The results showed that partially the poverty level can strengthen the influence of the Food Availability Index and Food Utilization Index on economic growth. In this case, the poverty level is classified as quasi-moderation which has a dual role as a moderation variable and an independent variable directly affects economic growth. Meanwhile, the effect of the Food Affordability Index on economic growth is not moderated by the poverty level as a predictor of moderation.