Food insecurity is Aotearoa's gaping wound, and we're running out of band-aids

Monday, 13 September 2021

Three generations of one whānu growing together at home: (l-r) Josh Koia, Sailor Koia, and Ancient Koia.

OPINION: The last few weeks have brought uncertainty across Aotearoa.

A huge surge in demand for food parcels is leaving already-stretched organisations, charitable entities and community groups facing a momentous task.

We have asked for more assistance and more food security, vouchers to help fill the cupboards while we aren’t working. Some of those who would not normally ask for help have come to know what many who are below the poverty line face daily – lack and uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the huge queues at the supermarkets we rely on before the Covid-19 lockdowns made it very clear that we need to improve our food security at home.

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As a nation that is revered around the globe as a food basket, with the ability to feed 40 million people per year, it seems wrong that we are having issues distributing and making healthy kai accessible to all.

The Ministry for Social Development has announced additional funding for food parcels to be distributed, but will this address the root cause of the problems we face?

This narrative is not new. We can not keep putting layers of band-aids on this gaping wound of inequality, thinking it will solve these difficult problems.

How can you stretch an already-low income to match food price increases? Lower waged and unemployed people are having to choose less nutritious food and cheaper packaged items – because healthy food costs more.

For Māori and Pasifika, the health deprivation caused by food insecurity and accessibility has been a catalyst for increasing health issues, disease, the ability to work, and pressure on our health systems.

It is clear that income levels and benefits are not always enough to afford healthy food, and this results in poor health outcomes for Māori.

Jade Temepara is working with Whānau Ora to run a free programme to help vulnerable whānau to learn how to grow, harvest and cook their own kai at home.

In 2018, 221 Māori died from diabetes mellitus (comprising over 35 per cent of the diabetes deaths in the country). Māori are more than twice as likely as non-Māori to suffer from diabetes and three times as likely to have a lower limb amputation. This, along with other diseases caused by poor diet, place a heavy, disproportionate burden on Māori.

Two key solutions to improving physical health are exercise and diet. But about two-thirds of Māori adults do not meet the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables each day– which is also disproportionate, and due largely to a disparity in disposable income.

Agencies like Te Pūtahitanga O te Waipounamu (the Whānau Ora commissioning for the South Island) have been flooded with hundreds of requests for emergency assistance to cover basic needs like kai.

With the latest lockdown, numbers have surged with whānau struggling to make ends meet.

There has also been a huge increase in food growing, and wanting to learn at home. I spoke with Kay Baxter from the Koanga Institute, who said seed sales have gone through the roof for September.

I am working with Whānau Ora to run a free programme to help vulnerable whānau to learn how to grow, harvest and cook their own kai at home. We will also measure the positive impact this has on their wellbeing.

I am looking for whānau in Ōtautahi Christchurch to make a start. If you are interested in taking part, you can fill out the form here.

This is a pilot for a nationwide effort called Te Mahere Whakauka (The Hope Project), working to help create jobs with Māori-led enterprises growing food, planting native seedlings next to waterways and providing a positive impact socially, culturally, environmentally and economically.

If you are interested in the wider project, check out the website here for more information.

Jade Temepara writes a gardening column for Stuff Homed. She is a former New Zealand Gardener of the Year and a food educator who has previously led both gardening and cooking projects with families.