Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty ... - Yale University

food sovereignty
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Food Sovereignty
Report by Kathleen McAfee
This session explored the concept of “food sovereignty,” a goal that has been put
forward by rural social movements such as the international small-farmers network
Vía Campesina. During the session, participants discussed the definition of food
sovereignty, how it differs from food security, and the wide range of factors affecting
food sovereignty, from trade and intellectual property rights to local, national, and
global policies to sustainable agriculture.
A short definition of food sovereignty might be: the right of communities and
countries to produce for their own needs, determine their own farming methods and
food policies, and decide what to import and export. But what does this mean in
practical terms? Does food sovereignty make sense at the level of a rural community?
Can it apply to cities? Or is it conceivable only as a nationally coordinated goal? What
is the difference between food sovereignty and food security? What policies and what
structures of power relations stand in the way of food sovereignty?
Phil Dahl-Bredine, a Maryknoll lay missioner working with farmers in southern
Mexico, said, “The Mexican government says NAFTA [the North American Free
Trade Agreement] will give us food security. But campesinos say, ‘We’ve lost control
over what we have, what we produce, what’s in it, and how we use it.’ People want to
have control over what they produce and how they produce it, so they can preserve
their way of life and culture and be independent. We need to build food security from
the places where people still have it, such as in the communally owned lands of
Mexican indigenous peoples.”
Ronaldo Lec, a permaculture specialist at IMAP in Guatemala, agreed and added
that “Food sovereignty has cultural and spiritual aspects too; producing food involves
a way of seeing life.”
Silvia Rodríguez of GRAIN (Genetic Resources Action International) added:
“There are two basic positions on food policy. One is that trade, based on the comparative
advantage of each nation, will result in food security. The other is that food
security comes from people having the right to food and the capacity to control their
own productive decisions.”
“In Costa Rica,” she continued, “those who think trade is the whole answer tell us
that the cheap food imports dumped in our markets from the U.S. are good for consumers
and the country because it cuts our industrial and other production costs.
“Control over our own seeds is
the first step towards food
sovereignty.”
– Silvia Rodríguez
yale school of forestry & environmental studies