Canada: Toronto declared a food insecurity emergency. This urban farmer wants to be part of the solution
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According to the Daily Bread Food Bank, it’s network served a record-breaking 3.75 million client visits in 2024.
By Serena Austin
The Star
Feb 16, 2025
Excerpt:
Toronto city council declared a food insecurity emergency last month, and now one of the city’s urban farmers is calling for a more active role for local agriculture in tackling the crisis.
Jessey Njau, founder of Zawadi Farm, has spent the last nine years dedicated to improving access to food in Toronto. In response to the emergency declaration, Njau penned an open letter to Mayor Olivia Chow, urging the inclusion of urban farmers like him in the discussions about food security.
The declaration comes amid growing concern, with one in 10 Torontonians now relying on food banks and a record-breaking 3.75 million client visits to the Daily Bread Food Bank in 2024.
While not surprised, Njau said he was upset by the declaration. “We can do better,” he told the Star. “We should be doing better.”
His letter commends Chow on her leadership in recognizing food insecurity as an emergency, but also stressed the need for policy changes that would include local farmers in the solution. He outlined several ways urban agriculture could address food insecurity, including prioritizing local growers in the city’s food programs, cutting bureaucratic barriers to allow farmers to sell directly to schools, hospitals and community centres, and building a stronger food distribution network.
Read the complete article here.
Source: https://cityfarmer.info/canada-toronto-declared-a-food-insecurity-emergency-this-urban-farmer-wants-to-be-part-of-the-solution/
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