Background and purpose - Digital connectivity provides smallholders with agricultural and livelihood information, but access remains uneven. This study examines factors associated with internet use and its relationship with food insecurity among rice-farming households in Kraksaan District, Probolinggo Regency, East Java. Methodology - A cross-sectional survey of 98 rice-farming households was conducted in September 2025. Food insecurity was measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). A probit model identified socioeconomic and farm characteristics associated with internet use. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) with stratification compared food insecurity between internet users and non-users, accounting for observed differences in household characteristics to improve comparability between the two groups. Findings - Most sampled households were food secure. Education, household size, and cultivated land area were positively associated with internet use at the 1% significance level. The PSM results report an ATT of -0.105 (SE 0.042; t = -3.169), indicating a significantly lower food-insecurity score among internet-using households after matching on observed characteristics. Implications - Digital inclusion can complement conventional agricultural and food-security interventions when connectivity is accompanied by practical digital literacy, locally relevant content, and extension support that helps farmers convert online information into production and household decisions. Originality - The study links the determinants of internet use with an experiential food-security measure and evaluates adjusted differences in food insecurity using PSM in a local Indonesian rice-farming setting.
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