Fragmentation of Urban Food Security Governance in Pekanbaru City
Abstract
Urban food security is increasingly shaped by the ability of local governments to connect food production, distribution, social protection, and citizen participation within a coherent governance system. This study examines how governance fragmentation is manifested in the management of urban food security in Pekanbaru City, a rapidly growing city that remains highly dependent on food supplies from outside the region. Using a qualitative case study, data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and document analysis involving government agencies responsible for food, agriculture, and trade, local legislators, policy experts, community-based food program managers, and food traders. The findings reveal six interconnected forms of fragmentation: regulatory fragmentation, disconnected local food production, reactive distribution management, weak institutional integration, separation between social protection and economic empowerment, and limited citizen participation in policy processes. The experiences of food traders further show how these institutional gaps are experienced through supply uncertainty, price fluctuations, and everyday pressures within the urban food system. Viewed through the New Public Service perspective, the central challenge lies not simply in food availability or the number of government programs, but in the limited capacity to build a shared public interest across government agencies, citizens, and food system actors. Strengthening urban food security therefore requires a shift from sector-based interventions toward an integrated and participatory governance process in which citizens and food distribution actors are recognized as partners in shaping local food policy.
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