Solution to a Food Desert essay

Food Deserts: A Major Issue

Food deserts are regions (often urban) where the population’s physical and financial constraints result in a limited supply of food. Minority and other low-income populations who lack a reliable supply of nutritious food typically call food deserts their home. Due to their geographic circumstances, these people frequently face obstacles in obtaining healthy food because of financial limitations and a lack of fertile land for food production. Most residents of food deserts lament the scarcity of affordable, fresh food. Another serious issue is the lack of variety in foods readily available, which restricts the range of goods that locals can obtain. The prevalence of this menace especially in urban centers is immense, and there is a dire need for solutions to help eradicate the problem (Chavez and Margeaux, 14).

The Role of an Anthropologist

An anthropologist could play a crucial role in ensuring that a food desert is eliminated, creating abundant supply for farm fresh products through various strategic adoptions. Through enacting a food desert project aimed at creating an abundant supply of farm fresh groceries to residents, the menace can be tackled, restoring healthy living and bettering life for the population.

Project Outline

In a bid to eradicate a food desert, it is important to create a consistent supply of farm fresh products to a given area. The major cause of the emergence of a food desert is the lack of economic capability, which often discourages grocers and supermarkets from opening shops in these areas. Bearing this in mind, the solution to a food desert does not only entail creating availability of food, but also lowering costs for these farm fresh foods. The best solution to this problem is urban agriculture, which promises not only to provide healthy fresh foods, but also low-cost products affordable to the residents of the food desert (Wang et al., 130).

The Role of Community Supported Agriculture

Community supported agriculture provides a reliable solution, addressing all the constraints experienced in a given food desert. Firstly, it is critical to locate arable land whereby a greenhouse can be set up. However, in most urban centers, locating such space might prove difficult, and thus collaboration with residents to produce given foods provides an alternative solution. Through sourcing funds from the government or other non-governmental organizations, the project can fund mobile cultivation, assigning residents different products for cultivation. This can be done in kitchen gardens, with constant monitoring and check-ups aimed at ensuring quality conducted. In this way, a neighborhood is in a position to predict its expected output, aligning it with the local food needs. The cooperative society will be in charge of all necessities for cultivation, making bulk purchases which resonate with lower costs. Prices are then adjusted based on production costs, earning the cultivators profits, which are shared among them appropriately (based on productivity). The products are then sold to locals at friendly prices, and availability is enhanced to reach all residents of the food desert. Further advancements in the cultivation will result in increased productivity, which results in excess production. The excess products can then be sold to neighboring locations, bringing in more funds for the residents.

Conclusion

The major strengths of this approach are that it provides cheap, healthy, and fresh foods to residents, assuring availability at all times. Additionally, the collaboration with locals strengthens their financial well-being, providing means for life betterment for the low-income residents. Finally, the project will create an income circulation within the community, promoting communal growth for all residents. Selling to other neighborhoods earns the residents a form of ’foreign income’ which is shared among them, promoting livelihood for all members of the society.

Work Cited

Chavez, Margeaux Alana. Desert in the springs: Ethnography of a food desert. University of South Florida, 2013.

Wang, Haoluan, Feng Qiu, and Brent Swallow. “Can community gardens and farmers’ markets relieve food desert problems? A study of Edmonton, Canada.” Applied Geography 55 (2014): 127-137.