IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v284y2021ics0277953621005463.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“We used to get food from the garden.” Understanding changing practices of local food production and consumption in small island states

Author

Listed:
  • Guell, Cornelia
  • Brown, Catherine R
  • Iese, Viliamu
  • Navunicagi, Otto
  • Wairiu, Morgan
  • Unwin, Nigel

Abstract

Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) lead global rates in obesity and non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs). Drivers for this are complex and include lack of food sovereignty, evidenced by an increasing reliance on cheap nutrient-poor food imports and a focus on export orientated cash crop production for much local agriculture. To better inform SIDS’ policy goals of improving nutrition through increased local food production, we explored in two SIDS current practices of food production and consumption. Teams of researchers from the two main regional universities conducted 28 focus groups in Fiji in the Pacific and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean with rural and urban communities of different socio-economic or land-owning status. In both countries home gardens were still common, valued as providing staple foods to households and contributing to health and livelihoods. Yet social changes had been experienced over the life course and across generations, such as increased purchase of foods, consumption of processed and often imported foods, and fast foods. While participants associated local foods with better nutrition and health outcomes than imported foods, some local foods were also acknowledged as unhealthy (e.g. locally produced tinned products, pesticide contaminated fresh produce). Finally, as food and related health advice moves globally, crossing national boundaries, and through formal and informal channels, local experiences can be confusing and contested. We suggest the need to understand temporal and spatial aspects of social practices, as social practices and their meaning change over time, travel globally and are experienced locally. To enhance and support re-localising food to counteract unhealthy consumption of ultra-processed, shop-bought, often imported foods, it is vital to understand these lived experiences of changes and resulting uncertainties, and to explicitly build on the longstanding positive relationships that people continue to express about home gardens and local food.

Suggested Citation

  • Guell, Cornelia & Brown, Catherine R & Iese, Viliamu & Navunicagi, Otto & Wairiu, Morgan & Unwin, Nigel, 2021. "“We used to get food from the garden.” Understanding changing practices of local food production and consumption in small island states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:284:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621005463
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114214
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621005463
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114214?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allison Hayes-Conroy & Elizabeth Sweet, 2015. "Whose adequacy? (Re)imagining food security with displaced women in Medellín, Colombia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 373-384, September.
    2. Warren, Emily & Hawkesworth, Sophie & Knai, Cécile, 2015. "Investigating the association between urban agriculture and food security, dietary diversity, and nutritional status: A systematic literature review," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 54-66.
    3. Nisbett, Nicholas, 2019. "Understanding the nourishment of bodies at the centre of food and health systems – systemic, bodily and new materialist perspectives on nutritional inequity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 9-16.
    4. Wilson, Marisa & McLennan, Amy, 2019. "A comparative ethnography of nutrition interventions: Structural violence and the industrialisation of agrifood systems in the Caribbean and the Pacific," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 172-180.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cornelia Guell & Catherine R. Brown & Otto W. Navunicagi & Viliamu Iese & Neela Badrie & Morgan Wairiu & Arlette Saint Ville & Nigel Unwin, 2022. "Perspectives on strengthening local food systems in Small Island Developing States," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1227-1240, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jessica R. Ham, 2020. "“Every day it’s tuo zaafi”: considering food preference in a food insecure region of Ghana," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 907-917, September.
    2. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    3. Mavis Mupeta & Elias Kuntashula & Thomson Kalinda, 2020. "Impact of urban agriculture on household income in Zambia: An economic analysis," Asian Journal of Agriculture and rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(2), pages 550-562, December.
    4. Carly Nichols & Halie Kampman & Mara Bold, 2022. "Forging just dietary futures: bringing mainstream and critical nutrition into conversation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 633-644, June.
    5. Gennifer Meldrum & Stefano Padulosi & Gaia Lochetti & Rose Robitaille & Stefano Diulgheroff, 2018. "Issues and Prospects for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Cultivated Vegetable Diversity for More Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Siemen van Berkum, 2023. "How Urban Growth in the Global South Affects Agricultural Dynamics and Food Systems Outcomes in Rural Areas: A Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Omondi, S.O., 2018. "Economic analysis of small-scale poultry production in Kenyan medium-sized cities of Kisumu and Thika," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277360, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Davies, Julia & Hannah, Corrie & Guido, Zack & Zimmer, Andrew & McCann, Laura & Battersby, Jane & Evans, Tom, 2021. "Barriers to urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Assem Abu Hatab & Maria Eduarda Rigo Cavinato & Carl Johan Lagerkvist, 2019. "Urbanization, livestock systems and food security in developing countries: A systematic review of the literature," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(2), pages 279-299, April.
    10. Navjot Sangwan & Luca Tasciotti, 2023. "Losing the Plot: The Impact of Urban Agriculture on Household Food Expenditure and Dietary Diversity in Sub-Saharan African Countries," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    11. Henrice Altink, 2020. "Tackling child malnutrition in Jamaica, 1962–2020," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Mawuna Donald Houessou & Mirte van de Louw & Ben G. J. S. Sonneveld, 2020. "What Constraints the Expansion of Urban Agriculture in Benin?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    13. Nicole Paganini & Stefanie Lemke & Ines Raimundo, 2018. "The potential of urban agriculture towards a more sustainable urban food system in food-insecure neighbourhoods in Cape Town and Maputo," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 20(3), pages 401-423.
    14. Giles Bruno Sioen & Makiko Sekiyama & Toru Terada & Makoto Yokohari, 2017. "Post-Disaster Food and Nutrition from Urban Agriculture: A Self-Sufficiency Analysis of Nerima Ward, Tokyo," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, July.
    15. Wood, Benjamin Douglas Kuflick & Vasquez, Maria, 2018. "Microplots and food security: Encouraging replication studies of policy relevant research," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 12, pages 1-12.
    16. Mcdougall, Robert & Rader, Romina & Kristiansen, Paul, 2020. "Urban agriculture could provide 15% of food supply to Sydney, Australia, under expanded land use scenarios," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Manrrubio Muñoz-Rodríguez & Claudia Fernández-González & Norman Aguilar-Gallegos & María Virginia González-Santiago, 2020. "The Primacy of Politics in Public Food Security Policies: The Case of Home Gardens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, May.
    18. Galeana-Pizaña, J. Mauricio & Couturier, Stéphane & Monsivais-Huertero, Alejandro, 2018. "Assessing food security and environmental protection in Mexico with a GIS-based Food Environmental Efficiency index," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 442-454.
    19. Thobani Cele & Maxwell Mudhara, 2024. "Impacts of Crop Production and Value Chains on Household Food Insecurity in Kwazulu-Natal: An Ordered Probit Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-16, January.
    20. Grebitus, Carola & Printezis, Iryna & Printezis, Antonios, 2017. "Relationship between Consumer Behavior and Success of Urban Agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 189-200.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:284:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621005463. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.