food sovereignty

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a political framework and social movement concept asserting the right of peoples, communities, and nations to define their own food and agriculture systems according to their own values, priorities, and cultural traditions, rather than having those systems shaped primarily by international commodity markets, trade agreements, and the commercial interests of transnational food corporations; coined by La Via Campesina, the international peasants' movement, in 1996, food sovereignty prioritises local food production for local consumption, agroecological farming methods, democratic control over land and seeds, fair prices for food producers, and the protection of indigenous food cultures; it challenges the mainstream food security framework, which focuses narrowly on caloric availability without questioning who controls the food system, arguing that genuine food security requires democratic control over how food is produced, distributed, and valued