Caractériser l'environnement alimentaire d'une municipalité régionale de comté pour identifier les zones prioritaires d'intervention en matière de sécurité alimentaire.

Abstract

Food security intervention is particularly complex in rural areas. The local stakeholders of the regional county municipality (RCM) of Portneuf wished to analyze the regional food supply in order to reduce food insecurity. The objective of this study was to characterize the RCM's food environment and to identify potential food deserts and priority intervention areas. We measured the quality of the food supply in the RCM's food stores, using four indicators: freshness, diversity, economic accessibility and relative availability. We mapped the distance between residences and the nearest food store with a favourable result for all four indices to locate potential food deserts. We then presented the mapping of the food environment to a group of local stakeholders and compared it to their own perception. This study reveals three sectors that meet the criteria of a food desert in the RCM. Local actors did not perceive these sectors as food deserts, but thought they were at risk of becoming such in the future. We complemented the measures by taking into account the structuring impact of certain infrastructures as well as the temporal and seasonal accessibility of food stores in rural areas. Only one priority intervention area was suggested. Presenting geographical analyses to local stakeholders improved the characterization of the studied food environment. The use of a mixed methodology has enabled the particularities of the rural environment to be better accounted for and has facilitated intersectoral mobilization around food insecurity at the regional level.