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Context
On 28 September 2018, a series of strong earthquakes struck Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi Province, the strongest of which recorded a magnitude of 7.4, a depth of 10 km and an epicentre close to the provincial capital, Palu. The earthquake triggered a tsunami with waves that reached up to three metres in some areas and led to liquefaction of terrain and landslides that caused considerable damage and loss of life in affected areas. Buildings were submerged and hundreds of people died, with many more missing. Aside from the damage to housing and critical infrastructure, agriculture was severely affected, accounting for around 40 percent of the total loss. The Humanitarian Forum Indonesia (HFI)-led Joint Needs Assessment (JNA), conducted in early October 2018, found that nearly half of the surveyed population faced food shortages. The earthquake also caused damage to the irrigation system. Before the earthquake, Central Sulawesi Province was one of the major agricultural production centres of the island, especially for food crops and vegetables. However, the damage caused to agriculture vastly deteriorated horticulture and the production of other food crops. Farmers lost their production capacity and livelihoods, and became reliant on food aid.
In the context of the severe impact of the earthquake and related tsunami, FAO implemented an intervention that sought to address food insecurity, loss of livelihoods and destruction of agricultural and fishing assets among affected households, including pregnant and lactating mothers with children under 5 years of age. This intervention was part of the programme Emergency support to restore food production and livelihoods of vulnerable households affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The project ran from October 2018 to June 2019 and aimed to address immediate nutritional needs and restore food production and livelihoods after the earthquake, while also strengthening community resilience to shocks, and climate change in particular, through the cash+ approach.