Maniapoto Maara Kai Roopu Community Garden’s Michelle Wi said people need to learn how to grow their own vegetables. FILE PHOTO
We have not seen the last of food shortages caused by weather events, according to Michelle Wi, who developed the Maniopoto Maara Kai Roopu Community Garden at Te Kūiti.
Michelle said food parcels, though useful short term, were not the answer in a worsening economy.
“In a nutshell, people need to learn how to grow their own vegetables. There is plenty of land [to cultivate] at Te Kūiti, so seriously they need to go and learn, now,” Michelle said.
“Have a look at the tinned vegetables we have at the supermarket now. There is none from Watties. You have a whole lot of foreign veggies coming in, why? Because the Watties have nothing to process because of the floods.
“So, it’s like I have being saying for quite a while; it’s not going to be a matter of ‘there is nothing there [in the supermarket] that isn’t too expensive’.
“It’s going to be a matter of, ‘there is nothing there [at all]’.
The community garden is in its third year, having given away close to four tonnes of produce in its first two years. Recently, when the price of potatoes was hitting $31.90 a kg, Michelle sent 100kg of the vegetable to Gisborne.
She said the need for fresh produce from the garden had grown significantly in the short time the garden had been operating.
“As this food situation worsens it will come down to a matter of survival. You have to develop a garden, but you have to begin doing so months before you can harvest.”
She has materials such as pallet boxes to help people get started but few have requested them.
“It doesn’t cost much, but in many cases people are too reluctant to do it.”
Michelle has also offered cooking classes to show people how to process and cook the produce they harvest from their gardens, but so far there have been few takers.
Adults keen to learn the secrets of creating a veggie garden and cooking what they grow are thin on the ground, though local schools have shown positive interest.
Michelle has not given up; on May 2 she starts a horticulture class teaching 16 to 24-year-olds.
“Personally, I believe the Government is going to have to bring back PEP (Project Employment Programme).
“So, if you are out of work, you just don’t draw the dole, but you use that time to learn how to grow your own food or learn a trade.
“But why are they unemployed when we have got three meat works and one of them needs 40 people for a shift? It had to close down its night shift because of a lack of staff.”
However, some of those who were reluctant to work had been psychologically damaged by the Covid lockdowns, she said.
“A lot of it with work is because of Covid because they have gotten used to staying on the dole. They are used to living with that amount and staying at home.
“Whereas, if they go and start a job there’s anxiety of if they get Covid. Because there will be no pay coming in the following week and have to [jump through hoops] to get support to survive.
“All of that has stress involved, so they feel they may as well stay home.”
