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

Enhancing Food Security and Physical Activity for Māori, Pacific and Low-income PeoplesCost-benefit analysisAn economic impact study of the Otago Farmers Market estimated $750,000 was spentby consumers in the first six months of operation. 20 Money spent in local farmers’markets tends to stay in the local economy, and every $10 spent on locally-producedfood is estimated to be worth $24 to the local area. This is in comparison to $10 spent ata supermarket which only generates $14 worth to the local area. In Australia, farmers’markets are reported to earn rural communities AUD$40 million/year. 25Results: Access and transportInterventions to improve access to nutritious food are diverse, and some examples areprovided in the literature. In the UK food access schemes include breakfast clubs, fruittuck shops, fruit and vegetable cooperatives, growing schemes, box-delivery schemes,and a community café which teaches cooking skills. 28 The suggestions in theENHANCE workshops related to mobile food delivery and improving transport to shops.It is not within the scope of this literature review to assess each possible interventionusing the Swinburn criteria; 29 instead, examples of possible interventions in the literatureare provided.Home delivery/mobile vendorsHome delivery of food has been proposed as a means to improve access to healthyfood. A pilot programme in Seattle delivered twice-weekly locally-grown market basketsto 480 elderly Meals-on-Wheels participants. 30 Participants receiving the basketsincreased self-reported consumption of fruit and vegetables by just over one serving/day.Eighty-two out of the 89 participants who completed the telephone survey reportedwanting to continue receiving the baskets.Another way of receiving home-delivered fresh produce in the US is to join a communitysupported agriculture programme. 31 Consumers are able to support local farmers byhaving a weekly delivery of just-picked fruit and vegetables. In Toronto a similar project -the Good Food Box – is a community food security project which delivers a weekly boxof locally grown produce to low-income urban dwellers. 32 The cost of the produce is paidfor by the recipients, but the cost of infrastructure and delivery is covered by FoodShare,which receives both public and private funding. Over 4,000 boxes are delivered eachmonth, feeding an estimated 8-10,000 people.Two examples of community-run mobile food shops are Roots and Fruits, and Health onWheels in Scotland. 33 Both projects use community development approaches toaddress issues related to access, affordability and availability to healthy food for lowincomehouseholds. Roots and Fruits evolved from a group of volunteers buying a minibusto deliver fruit and vegetables to rural areas. It is now a registered charity thatdelivers low-cost fruit and vegetables and tinned goods to around 300 customers in19 areas. Products are sold at slightly above cost price. Community involvement hasbeen crucial to its success, and funding is now derived mainly from the health serviceand the local council. Obtaining additional funding remains difficult however, and is verytime-consuming. Health on Wheels was a similar concept, and acted as a mobile shopselling fresh food at housing estates. The project ceased running due to continualfunding difficulties and reliance on volunteer staff with lack of necessary skills. Theproject has since been restarted by a local voluntary organisation. It was noted that in90