Integrating Sharia Economics into Global Soybean Commodity Politics: Evidence from Indonesian Food Artisans

Abstract

Indonesia's tempeh, tofu, and menjes artisans depend heavily on imported soybean, exposing household production to global price volatility, layered intermediation, and restricted access to formal support.
This study examines how commodity-chain power shapes producer decisions and evaluates the resulting distribution of risk, value, and institutional access through Sharia economic principles.
The study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis with twenty informants, fourteen field days in Sromo Village during January–February 2025, non-participant observation, and documentary review. Inductive thematic interpretation preceded the normative Sharia analysis.
Price changes reached household workshops through a four-level, intermediary-dominated chain. Producers occupied a double price-taking position and mainly reduced product size rather than raising consumer prices. Arisan, kinship labour, deferred payment, and coordinated pricing buffered shocks but did not improve bargaining power. Menjes production reduced exposure through partial substitution of soybean with local tofu residue, while documentation requirements restricted cooperative access.
Sharia economic governance should address the full commodity chain through transparent price formation, fair risk allocation, inclusive cooperative membership, collective procurement, carefully governed Sharia-compliant finance, and local input diversification. The findings distinguish compensatory resilience, which preserves production without changing power relations, from enabling resilience, which expands producer agency.