**3. Drivers of food insecurity in the oil palm producing tropical land**

The farming of oil palm, which is not a food crop, contributes to food insecurity. Piesse [21] opined that oil palm production does not further food security and makes importation of food more likely. The researcher also opined that the competition for land from industry and housing has pushed many farmers out of the market thereby further reducing the ability of palm oil producing nations like Indonesia to produce their own food.

Most food-crop farmers are smallholders and face problems of economies of scale. This has made it difficult to increase food production to meet self-sufficiency targets. Other factors that affect hunger and malnutrition include economic slowdowns and downturns, world price fluctuations for countries dependent on production of primary commodities and the ability to trade in free and open markets which leads to unemployment affects income and ultimately access to food. This is mainly affecting countries dependent on primary commodity exports, in South America, Asia and some countries in Africa.

Promoting policies of oil palm nucleus estates that is not balanced with sustained programmes that gradually increase agricultural food productivity and distribution, have the potential to reduce food security. The experience of Indonesia is a case in point. Though the country has the potential to produce enough food to feed its population, but it is prevented from doing so due to some policy issues. Large tracts of its agricultural land have been developed for oil palm plantations, which, while commercially successful, do nothing to bolster food security.

The food distribution network is one of the largest barriers to food security and increased consumption of domestically produced food. Increased land use pressure from expanding industrial and urban areas makes it difficult to find new agricultural land that is close to transport infrastructure. This is found to be partly responsible for Indonesia's poor domestic food production capacity. As the world's largest archipelagic state, Indonesia faces unique challenges that complicate its food distribution system. Transporting food throughout its 6,000 or so inhabited islands is a particularly difficult undertaking that the government has long grappled with.

Demographic transition also poses a potential problem for food supply, especially in Indonesia. Piesse [21] noted that the Indonesian middle class is currently the fourth largest in the world, after the US, India and China. By 2030, about 20 million households are likely to belong to the middle class. As the middle class grows to occupy a larger portion of the population, a shift in food preferences is likely to follow. Middle class consumers are more likely to purchase higher-cost food products, such as meat, dairy and processed foods, which Indonesia will struggle to supply through domestic production alone. Indonesia will continue to rely on foreign imports to meet domestic demand in key food products such as rice and beef. This is likely going to be the situation in other oil palm producing countries in South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and in South America.

Low commodity prices are also likely to drive food insecurity. A consistent slide in the price of commodities over time may lead to depreciation and devaluation of currencies resulting in domestic price increases, including food prices. This then affects the ability of households to buy food as the cost of food relative to their incomes increases.
