Abstract

The economic crises in the Indonesia has decreased the purchasing power of the families which further affected the household food consumption. The objective of this study is to observe the effect of economic crises on the intra-household food distribution, particularly the poor families. In other words, the objective of the study is to identify which of the family members that affected most by crises. The socioeconomic status and food consumption data was collected from 100 households in two poor villages in the district Subang, West Java. There were two rounds of data collection. The first data collection was carried out in August 1998 to represent the "paceklik" period, and the second data collection was carried out in November 1998 to represent the "harvest" period. The food consumption data of the individual family member was collected using "weighing" method for two days. Nutrition intake was calculated based on Indonesian food consumption table. The result showed that the energy and protein intake of individual family members in the periods of "paceklik" and "harvest" was still adequate (more than 90 percent RDA). The energy intake of all family members was not significantly different in two periods. However, there was a significant decrease in protein intake of the adult from "paceklik" period to "harvest" period. While, for the under fives and school age children the protein intake was relatively stable in both periods. This study conclude that the most protected members of family in term of protein intake were children under five years of age and school children, whereas, the adult members were the most affected by the changes in the agricultural cycle.