Our food initiatives are working to provide sustainable long term food security to Walgett.
Our community is challenged from losing river foods from our local food options - due to bad water management in the Northern Murray Darling Basin. We learnt a lot when the only supermarket in town burnt down in June 2019, about how vulnerable our local food is and how food supply systems contribute to this vulnerability. Due to the Food and Water for Life program, DEG was able to move quickly to work with the local IGA, donors, local council, WAMS and others to ensure that people isolating, close contacts and those struggling due to the impacts of COVID, particularly during the long lockdown, had access to food and water supplies.
In March 2022, with our colleagues from the George Institute for Global Health, we surveyed Walgett community members about their experiences of food and water security. The results of these surveys will be published in July but key findings are available here.