The Local Committee of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) in Teguise will present a motion at the next plenary session of the City Council to address the problem of the so-called “food deserts” in different towns of the municipality, that is, areas where the population does not have nearby food stores to regularly access basic products and fresh food.
The initiative, defended by the party's councilor Fernando Jiménez, proposes that the City Council officially recognize this situation and develop a municipal diagnosis that analyzes its social, economic, and health impact, with special attention to the elderly and the most vulnerable groups.
The municipality of Teguise has a large territorial extension and numerous dispersed population centers. In several of them there is currently no stable food store, which forces many residents to travel several kilometers to make basic purchases. This situation especially affects elderly people who live alone, have reduced mobility, or do not have their own vehicle.
The motion proposes to promote different solutions that allow guaranteeing access to basic foodstuffs in these towns, such as the implementation of mobile stores or itinerant markets, support for small businesses to encourage their reopening or establishment, and the signing of agreements with cooperatives and local producers to facilitate the supply of essential products.
Likewise, the proposal suggests utilizing socio-cultural centers or other municipal spaces underutilized to install periodic sales points or small food markets, always guaranteeing their compatibility with the social use of these facilities.
Another of the measures included in the initiative is to improve public transport alternatives to facilitate access to commercial areas, adapting schedules and frequencies to the real needs of the elderly population.
The local secretary of NC-bc in Teguise, Belén Machín, emphasizes that this initiative also seeks to combat territorial inequality within the municipality itself. “Living in a village cannot mean having less access to basic services. Guaranteeing something as fundamental as food is also a matter of social justice and quality of life,” she states.
Machín also highlights that “there are experiences in other territories that have shown that itinerant markets, mobile stores or community sales points work and help keep towns alive”. In that sense, he believes that the City Council should explore these formulas “from a municipal perspective, coordinating also with the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Government of the Canary Islands”.
For his part, councilman Fernando Jiménez, points out that “access to basic foodstuffs cannot depend on the place where you live within the municipality.” As he explains, “there are residents who, to buy bread, milk or fruit, have to organize a car trip or depend on family and neighbors, and that is a situation that public administrations cannot ignore.”
Jiménez adds that “we are not facing a theoretical problem, but a daily reality that especially affects elderly people in many villages of the municipality”. Therefore, he considers it necessary “to promote practical solutions adapted to the territorial reality of Teguise, taking advantage of municipal resources and collaborating with local producers”.
The NC-bc motion also includes the proposal to coordinate these measures with the Social Services area to detect situations of special vulnerability and ensure that no person is left without access to adequate food due to mobility, isolation, or lack of resources.
Finally, the initiative proposes to carry out periodic monitoring of the measures that are adopted to evaluate their effectiveness and improve public policies aimed at guaranteeing access to basic foodstuffs in all the towns of the municipality.