Coalition ensuring better food security

The Baw Baw Food Security Coalition is improving food security for everyone in the community.

The Central West Gippsland Primary Care Partnership recently published a report about the Baw Baw Food Security Coalition and its achievements in improving food security across the shire.

Since development of the coalition five years ago, food security has improved across Baw Baw.

The report found the community’s consumption of fruit and vegetables was currently above the Victorian average.

The report said these outcomes were not necessarily the result of one single intervention but the collective impact of multiple interventions that have been delivered concurrently, and collaboratively, by the coalition.

Between June 2015 and June 2016, about 4500 people participated in food activities across Baw Baw each month; about 225 volunteers were involved in food activities; and three to six markets local, fresh produce to more than 3000 people each month.

The report showed the coalition has improved access and availability to fresh food with:

13,500 kilograms of fresh produce distributed annually through Secondbite, a food for needy people program;

More than 1890 trolleys of emergency grocery and fresh food provided through emergency food relief services annually;

More than 630 families (with an average of four people) accessing Baw Baw Combined Churches emergency food relief (averaging three visits per year);

390 healthy hot meals served through Longwarry Secondbite annually; and,

150 boxes of locally sourced fresh produce supplied to Baw Baw residents weekly by Baw Baw Food Hub (amounting to 7800 boxes annually).

The BBFSC was formed in 2012. It consists of a steering committee, and three working groups who work collaboratively to implement initiatives to improve food security in the community.

The working groups include a strategic planning working group that sits within council, the Baw Baw Food Movement) and an emergency food relief network.

The report details the history and impact of the Coalition over the past five years.

The Food Security Coalition was developed to improve food security after the Health Department’s 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey identified Gippsland as having a higher incidence of food insecurity (5.8 per cent) compared to Victoria (5.6 per cent).

The Food Security Coalition aims to improve security by increasing access to, and consumption of healthy and nutritious food for the Baw Baw community.

The report details the 102 interventions that have been implemented in Baw Baw to date.

The report also outlines that 96 per cent of the Baw Baw population has been exposed to interventions and/or messages from the Coalition, while 31 per cent of the population has participated directly in interventions.

These interventions range from advocating to council, retailers selling local produce, community gardens, edible landscapes and school kitchen garden projects.

Excitingly, since the development of the Coalition, food security has improved across Baw Baw. The population’s consumption of fruit and vegetables is also currently above the Victorian average.

These outcomes are not necessarily the result of one single intervention but the collective impact of multiple interventions that have been delivered concurrently, and collaboratively, by the Coalition.

The Baw Baw Food Security Coalition Comprehensive Overview Report can be accessed by visiting www.centralwestgippslandpcp.com/food-security/