South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has called for the government to act to combat food poverty, which is dramatically on the rise. And the Director of Barnardo’s in Northern Ireland has also expressed her deep concerns about the changing situation.
Following the launch of today’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Food Security Report, Ms Ritchie outlined urgent steps that must be taken to stop the rise in food banks, increase food redistribution and tackle food waste.
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Foodbanks – a growing reality.[/caption]
She said: “This report highlights the dramatic increase in demand for food banks, the lack of surplus food redistribution and measures that must be taken to counter food waste at a time when many are experiencing food poverty.
“With foodbanks reporting figures doubling over the past couple of years between 350,000 in 2012-13 to 913,000 in 2013-14, and with an estimated 1 in 6 parents are forgoing food so that their children can be fed – there is no denying the seriousness of the food poverty situation that needs to be urgently addressed.
“The government may be unwilling to label it ‘food poverty’, but that is exactly what it is, and it is a reality for too many people.
“As my colleagues and I argue in the report – a DEFRA Food Security Co-ordinator should be immediately appointed to oversee the distribution of surplus food. In France, they redistribute 20 times the amount of surplus food than the UK. There is far more the government could do to develop networks that would both decrease food waste and help the rising numbers experiencing food poverty.
“There is also an essential need to understand the root causes of food poverty in order to design the best policies to combat them, which the government expresses no intention doing.
“The lack of initiative from government in recognising and tackling this problem is striking. The Minister expressed no intention to introduce measures to collect data that will better explain the causes and clearly has no intention to appoint someone to develop a strategy to help redistribute surplus food.
“The sharp rise in food poverty and in 2015 is unacceptable. What could be more important for the Secretary of State to act now to combat food poverty. It is on this government’s watch that there has been such an increase in food poverty and it is this government’s responsibility to urgently put these measures in place to help those already affected and prevent the numbers rising.“
The Director of Barnardo’s NI Lynda Wilson said: “It is an absolute tragedy that many of the families Barnardo’s supports across Northern Ireland are struggling to afford food. Families are finding that their income simply isn’t keeping pace with increased costs and parents are being forced to make almost impossible choices between buying food or fuel.
“We are aware of adults skimping on meals to protect their children from going without and moving away from buying fresh fruit and vegetables which are more expensive, to processed foods.
“Over the past two years we have seen a growth in referrals we are making to food banks and some of the families we work with are particularly susceptible to food poverty with little or no resources and no family network to fall back on.
“We are trying to help by providing support with budgeting, offering cooking classes and running healthy eating sessions but until the root causes of low wages and rising living costs are addressed many of the families we work with will be forced to continue making the desperate choice between heating the house or buying food.”
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