Many more seeking help to feed family

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

A national survey conducted by the NZ Food Network shows an alarming rise in the number of people needing access to food support, portending a bleak winter for many New Zealanders.

The network surveyed 51 food hubs across the country to find 480,104 Kiwis are being supported by foodbanks every month, a staggering 165 percent rise since 2019.

The most common reasons given are the rising cost of living, followed by low incomes and unemployment.

Other common reasons given are disability, people suffering from sickness or injury, and senior citizens living on low fixed incomes.

Food Network chief executive Gavin Findlay said they had been working to bridge the gap between surplus stock and the communities that needed uplifting, but demand had not slowed and foodbanks were struggling to keep up.

People were having to cut their food budgets despite fast-rising prices, to keep up with increases in housing, fuel and power costs.

The network’s purpose was to relieve some of the burden, but that was only possible when it had food to give. Food businesses could do their part by donating surplus food for the network to distribute.

Food prices increased by 12 percent in the year to March according to Stats NZ, a hike not seen since the end of the 1980s.

Massey University economics professor and associate dean Maori Matt Roskruge said the situation was sad but somewhat expected.

“We know that wages haven’t been keeping up with inflation, that food inflation in particular has been outpacing other forms of inflation. We know that it’s really tough in the supermarket for people.”

He made a good point saying that while food was a necessity, it tended to come after you had paid all of those bills you can’t avoid.

In this district the demands will be increased by the long-term effects of Cyclone Gabrielle, particularly in rural areas and on the East Coast. Around the district, 233 families are still unable to return to their red- or yellow-stickered homes.

The winter energy payment which started this month is a welcome boost but overall it is a really ugly situation for the Government to face in an election year and when the country’s current account deficit for 2022 just came in at $33.8bn, the highest level since the current series began in 1988.

The chances of help in next Thursday’s “back to basics” Budget seem limited . . . unless the Finance Minister has something he has been keeping from us.