<![CDATA[Background and purpose – Smallholder rice farmers often face unstable output prices, limited capital, weak bargaining positions, and uneven access to technical information. Contract farming mediated by agricultural startups may reduce some of these constraints through input support, technical assistance, and more predictable market access. This study examines the factors associated with rice farmers’ participation in startup-based contract farming and whether participating households have better food-consumption outcomes in Ngawi Regency, East Java. Methodology – Survey data were collected from 100 rice farmers selected through accidental sampling. Participation in contract farming was modeled using binary logistic regression with age, education, household size, farming experience, land area, capital access, and activeness in farmer groups as covariates. Household food security was measured using the Food Consumption Score (FCS), and the adjusted difference between participants and nonparticipants was estimated using Propensity Score Matching (PSM). Findings – Contract farming in the study area is predominantly informal, oral, and short-term, usually covering one production season. Education, farming experience, access to capital, and activeness in farmer groups are positively associated with participation, while age is negatively associated with participation. Household size and land area are not statistically significant. After matching on observed characteristics, the reported Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) is 4.95 FCS points, indicating higher food-consumption scores among participating households. Implications – The results suggest that startup-mediated partnerships can support household food access when they combine market assurance with input, information, and financing support. Farmer groups appear especially important as channels through which farmers learn about and enter partnership arrangements. Greater transparency in short-term oral contracts, clearer price and quality rules, and stronger farmer-group facilitation could improve the inclusiveness and durability of these arrangements. Originality – The study links participation in agricultural-startup contract farming to a household-level food-consumption outcome and jointly examines participation determinants and matched food-security differences in an Indonesian rice-farming setting.]]>
