The conversion of agricultural land has become one of the main courses in the effort to realize food security. Such a conversion has largely undergone in Indonesia, particularly after the introduction of decentralization. This study considers the rising demand for industrialization in the pursuit of economic growth and development, which subsequently occupies agricultural productive arable lands in many regions in Indonesia’s decentralization regime. This study conducted lies in East Java Province and takes Jember Regency as a sample. By combining the doctrinal and socio-legal research, this study will look at how the government regulates the conversion of agricultural land along with the government's and community's responses to the existing regulations on agricultural conversion applied in Jember Regency. In so doing, this study aims to identify the extent to which the regulations that have been applied from both the national and local levels have resulted in adverse impacts to food security due to the conversion of agricultural land for development. This study concludes that the massive conversion of agricultural land has a considerable impact on food security. By taking into account decentralization that grants autonomous powers to local governments, each local government has a significant role in ensuring food security at this local level to contribute to the national food security. However, the regional spatial planning in Jember is a substantial problem on how the conversion of agricultural land occurs for the cement industry. The overlapping of regulations at the local level indicates a new government’s paradox in ensuring sustainable development and the government’s ambition to promote food security.