enhancing food security and physical activity for maori, pacific and ...

Enhancing Food Security and Physical Activity for Māori, Pacific and Low-income PeoplesMethodsA brief review of the literature on community gardens, farmers’ markets, access + foodsecurity, and transport + food security was conducted in Scopus, alongside the author’sexisting collection of papers on the topics and dissertation identifying the environmentalinfluences on food security.Results: Community gardensUse locally and internationallyCommunity gardens are shared local gardens where members of a community can growfresh produce. Community gardens are increasing in number, both internationally andlocally, as a way to improve food security. Community gardens are not a novel idea andhave been in existence since the turn of the 20 th century. 3 They are popular in theUnited States, Canada, and in the United Kingdom, where low-income or urbanneighbourhoods may not have individual land on which to establish gardens. 4 5 In BritishColumbia, Canada there are more than 170 community gardens. 6 The city of Montrealin Canada has 97 community gardens, approximately 8,200 plots, and more than10,000 people gardening at them. In the US, a 1998 estimate was of ~6,000 activecommunity gardens used by more than two million gardeners. 7 This year, the NationalTrust in the UK pledged to create 1,000 new community gardens over the next threeyears, 8 and they have more than 100,000 people on waiting lists to join one. It isestimated these community gardens could grow the equivalent of 2.6 million lettuces or50,000 sacks of potatoes, with a value of up to £1.5 million each year.Community gardens have not traditionally been a common feature in New Zealand,where home gardens have a stronger heritage. However, the growth of in-fill housingand apartments has meant that less land is now available for home gardens. As well aslimited land availability, home gardens can be expensive to set up, and require a certainlevel of skill to successfully manage them. 9 They also do not provide the socialconnectedness often experienced in community gardens. There appears to be agrowing interest in community gardens to improve both food security and health, andthey are being implemented on a small scale by local health promoters. 10 However,evaluation of such initiatives is currently sparse or difficult to access.Evidence of effectivenessParticipants in a community gardening project in the US noted reduced household foodspending and increased confidence in cooking. 11 Home and community gardens havebeen used by Navajo nations in the US to address nutrition and food security issues. 12The gardens provided many benefits such as providing fresh, locally grown food;increasing physical activity through gardening; savings in food expenditure; and creatinga positive mental outlook. Furthermore, a random phone survey of people living inMichigan (n=766) identified that people who utilise community gardens (n=115) ate fruitand vegetables 1.4 times more in a day, and were 3.5 times more likely to eat fruit andvegetables greater than five times in a day compared with respondents who did not usecommunity gardens. 13SustainabilityAs has been mentioned, community gardens have a long heritage in some countries.Thus, they are likely to be a sustainable intervention if developed and managed85