Food Sovereignty

Food Sovereignty

In a world plagued simultaneously and perversely by hunger and obesity, rational policies are overdue for governing the way food is grown, processed and traded, and how the benefits of the world's food systems are shared.

Most food in the world is grown, collected and harvested by more than a billion small-scale farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk. This food is mainly sold, processed, resold and consumed locally, thereby providing the foundation of peoples' nutrition, incomes and economies across the world.

At a time when halving world poverty and eradicating hunger are at the forefront of the international development agenda, reinforcing the diversity and vibrancy of local food systems should also be at the forefront of the international policy agenda. Yet, the rules that govern food and agriculture at all levels - local, national and international - are designed a priori to facilitate not local, but international trade. This reduces diversity and concentrates the wealth of the world's food economies in the hands of ever fewer multinational corporations, while the majority of the world's small-scale food producers, processors, local traders and consumers including, crucially, the poor and malnourished, are marginalized.

A policy framework would start by placing the perspective and needs of the majority at the heart of the global food policy agenda and embracing not only the control of production and markets, but also the Right to Food, peoples' access to and control over land, water and genetic resources, and the use of environmentally-sustainable approaches to production. Accordingly, food and development policy must refocus on the control of food production and consumption within democratic processes rooted in localized food systems.

Now, when there is intense debate about how the world will halve poverty and eradicate hunger, the policies that govern the way food is produced, consumed and distributed, how it is processed and traded, and who controls the food chain, need to be looked at comprehensively. Food sovereignty is fast becoming recognized as the most important food and agriculture policy consensus for the 21st century.

Food Sovereignty requires that governments:

Prioritize local, regional, and national needs, based on agriculture that consists of small farmers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, and other local communities;
Protect local and national markets of basic food stuffs to give priority to the products of local farmers;
Promote and enforce farmer's rights including access to land, water and seed;
Promote sustainable peasant agriculture which is more productive and protects our biodiversity.
Promote a direct, shared and decentralized relationship between food producers and the rest of the community;
Enforce genuine land reform to ensure redistribution of land.
And lastly design a new farm economy which should be the centerpiece of the country's economic development model.

Links

Food Sovereignty: Global Rallying Cry of Farmer Movements

Via Campesina Food Sovereignty Commission 2005 meeting

Fair Trade Policy: Promoting Food Sovereignty

Food First Publications on Food Sovereignty

Food Sovereignty: Turning the Global Food System Upside Down

People's Food Sovereignty: the agriculture trade network

Public Citizen | Food Sovereignty

Food is a Human Right

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: towards democracy in localized food systems

Farming for Families and Food, Not Corporate Profits

VIA CAMPESINA | International Peasants Movement