via Food Security or Food Sovereignty? The view from the global South
From discussions with a diverse array of food sovereignty actors in West Africa including peasant food producers, farmer organisations, academics and civil society groups involved in the World Social Forum (WSF) in Dakar, it became clear that food ‘security’ and food ‘sovereignty’ represent increasingly diverging visions for the future of agriculture and food in the world.
While the definitions of food sovereignty varied between actors, there are some core values that are widely shared. Most broadly, food sovereignty is defined as “the right of people to choose their food systems”. This right exists at all levels, from the household and local community, to national and global. It includes decisions about how to produce and consume food, but also extends to the types of relationships that are built into this process. According to Mamadou Goita (from the Institute for Research and Alternatives in Development), while food security is the sum of having access, purchasing and consuming food, food sovereignty refers to the capacity of people to choose what they want to eat, how it will be produced, and what relationships this entails with others. For Mr Goita, therefore, “food sovereignty is a right that food security does not include.”
Achieving food sovereignty requires both recognising the political nature of food and addressing social inequality in the global food system.
