Why the future of food is local

Why the Future of Food is Local (and How You Can Be Part of It?)

Welcoming a future that is driven by people cultivating and producing food within their locality is not a farfetched idea or concept. With food ever becoming expensive, its future being localized as opposed to industrialized is driven by the inherent benefits that people can enjoy. From freshness to reduction in environmental impact to broadening community ties, a local perspective to food production should be the way forward. Efforts to support local food systems, empower farmers and reduce dependence on industries requires education, training and information provision on ways to promote sustainable practices. At PACE we view the future of food as being local due to the immense potential of turning local problems into sustainable and long-lasting solutions. From inadequate food to financial stress, PACE recognizes local food production as a viable option that is driven by practices that recycle trash while adopting innovative farming approaches. Additionally, rising food prices continue to plague Kenya with meeting the basic nutritional needs a struggle for many. Factors such as reduced rainfall, Ukraine-Russia war and increased production costs contribute to the increase in prices requiring innovative ways to obtain necessary nutrition. PACE offers disruptive ways that we can produce local vegetables, herbs and spices using organic farming. A sustainable approach that uses locally sourced natural manure with proven non-intrusive ways of controlling pests using traditional methods, we aim to transform the local perspective about farming. Vertical farms, green walls, as some of our solutions incorporate reusing plastics to engage in radical approaches for people to engage in urban farming and meet their food needs. Our efforts to promote local food production should highlight why the future of food is local at PACE. 

Purpose 

Advocate and demonstrate the efficacy of organic farming as the basis for tackling nutritional problems in the society remains the focal point of PACE’s operations. Advancing local food systems that are self-efficient and sustaining requires empowerment of people on innovative planting approaches. Through own organic farming, access to tutorials through https://pacekenya.org/ and training workshops, we aim to engage the community on the validity of organic farming. By following our tutorials, we focus on organic farming as a flagship approach towards advancing food sustainability. Among the benefits of the urban farming initiative include:

Enhanced food security: reducing reliance on store-bought foods is through the vertical farms as a food sources. Dealing with the disruptions of the food chain is via the urban farms that can enhance accessibility to vegetables, herbs and spices. 

Income development: supporting the local youth to engage in organic farm is a beneficial approach that can double up as a source of income by selling the surplus produce to the local community. 

Sustainability: the vertical farms offer an opportunity for continuous food production that can be undertaken for multiple seasons. 

Community building: local food systems are prudent for fostering a sense of community through involvement in organic farming. Societal members participating in farming can pool resources to ensure that harvest is profitable and can meet the nutritional needs. 

Problem statement 

Food security affects numerous households to date with the need for effective measures to promote accessibility gaining prominence in recent years. Balancing between subsistence and cash food production is a problematic endeavor that requires innovative approaches to empower the communities. Achieving self-sufficiency may not be feasible due to the inadequate land resource to facilitate activities such as organic farming. 

Equally, the scale and diversity of the farming options is a concern that requires extensive training and education. Review of the viability of farming centers on evaluation of the nutritional needs of the people and training them on the need to investing into organic approaches. A resilient sustainable and community centric food system requires utilization of the existing resources that continue to reduce. Land, capital and human resource problems affect the efforts to improve food security. Organic farming offers a viable solution to food insecurity that is driven by the principles of care, health, ecology and fairness in the production process. Central to the farming approach is the use of local resources as the foundation for advancing food accessibility and adequacy. 

PACE’s Model and its Replication 

The premise of PACE is to adopt organic farming to establish an ecological balance while using minimal conventional inputs. Accordingly, the essence of the nutritional approach to farming is to ensure sustainable farming is adopted that assures regular income while ensuring preservation of the available resources. Long term environmental health and achieving food security is by the investment into organic farming that deviates from the conventional agricultural reliance. For example, in PACE’s vertical farms, we do not use synthetic pesticides. The use of complimentary farming that uses existing knowledge about plants that can act as pesticides is an example of how we can promote natural approaches to curbing pests.