Kai Ora Fund supports grassroots projects to feed Northland communities

The Whangārei group at this year's Kai Ora workshop. Photo / Supplied

At a time of crumbling global food security, a Northland community grant is providing financial means for grassroots initiatives to develop their food resilience.

The Kai Ora Fund is going a step further in the battle to keep food accessible by educating and connecting different groups across the region.

The fund in its eighth year has allocated $140,902 of community grants to 41 projects - 22 of which are in the Far North, 13 in Whangārei, and four in Kaipara.

As the war in Europe, the ongoing pandemic and the alarming impacts of the climate crisis continue to disrupt supply chains, growing food resilience is becoming increasingly important.

Ken Ross, community development advisor for Far North District Council is one of the initiators of Kai Ora and says he realised when they started the fund that Northland's food security was poor.

Ross said being involved in civil defence work meant he knew Northland's current strategy is mostly to wait for food supply from outside the region and then distribute it.

"There will be a point in time where the calamity of an event will undermine that strategy."

The recent floods that severed the Far North combined with the indefinite Mangamuka Gorge closure show the vulnerability of the region's infrastructure.

Nearly 40 people attended this year's Kai Ora workshop in Kaikohe. Photo / Supplied

Most supermarkets store a three-day supply and the warehouses that stock them carry approximately one week's supply.

Ross assumed the Far North would produce a sufficient amount of beef and sheep meat, milk, maize, squash, citrus, kiwifruit, avocado, and maybe enough olive oil to feed that part of the region but said no one has tried to find out if Northland could be self-sufficient.

Catastrophic events aside, the drastic price increase of food has put pressure on many Northland families. Remote living, requiring long drives to the next supermarket, further restricts access to fresh and healthy food.

That's why Mahitahi Hauora, Northland District Health Board (now Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau), Te Puni Kōkiri, Far North District Council, Whangārei District Council, Kaipara District Council, the Ministry of Social Development and Healthy Families Far North partnered up to help communities grow and trade their own food.

"There is no better time than now to rally communities together to address kai needs," Whangārei District Council community development advisor Laura Welsby said.

"This year we saw the largest increase of new projects across the region, signalling the interest from communities to invest their time, energy, and resources into getting kai from the ground to the table."

One such project in Whangārei, led by the adult day centre Forget Me Not, aims to develop a vegetable garden for their clients and the wider community.

Another community collaboration in Whangārei, based at St Stephen's Church, focuses on educating their community through workshops that integrate Māori values of manaakitanga and kaitiaki.

They aim to encourage local food security and community connection through gardening, education, collaboration, and celebration.

In the Far North, Pateoro Marae is working on a project called Te Houkura which aims to establish marae-based maara kai and rongoa to encourage self-sufficiency and share traditional knowledge around planting, cultivation, harvesting and seed collection.

Successful applicants attend a Kai Ora workshop in Whangārei, Kaikohe or Kaitaia to allow the project teams to collaborate and share expert advice and project knowledge for greater outcomes.

Groups shared their vision for their projects, considered key factors to boosting kai resilience, and looked at synergies between their projects.

Ross said it was important to link the different groups together because the community fund is comparatively small. Groups can apply for up to $5000.

Part of the larger Kai Ora kaupapa is to establish kai hubs where people can share and trade food as well as exchange expertise, skills and tools. One of these hubs is currently in development in Whangaroa.

Over the years, Kai Ora has supported about 200 projects with over $650,000 in total.

The Kai Ora Fund is expected to reopen for applications later in the year for the 2023 funding round. Anyone considering applying for the next round is encouraged to check in with the partners for collaboration opportunities with existing projects and to strengthen their applications well in advance.