SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – Approximately 45% or 129,698 of 290,000 Chatham County residents live in food desert areas, according to the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition.
One local organization is trying to change the narrative and end the problem of food insecurity.
WSAV visited Yamacraw Village, one of the many areas that is considered a food desert, meaning there is no grocery store within a one-mile radius of the community. Without access to a grocery store, access to fresh produce is rare for families.
But the Forsyth Farmers’ Market is changing that by bringing the produce to them with their Farm Truck 912.
“They were formally known as food deserts, but the terminology food apartheid speaks better to the social issues as well as systemic racism and oppression that created these areas,” said Dr. Deidre Grim, executive director of Forsyth Farmers’ Market.
According to the city of Savannah, “communities most impacted by food apartheid are low-wealth, Black neighborhoods on the east and west sides of Savannah.”