Food Sovereignty is a political movement and a pathway towards the fundamental transformation of our broken food system and societies. As a living pathway Food Sovereignty embodies principles such as Food as a Human Right not a commodity; and solidarity, cooperation, internationalism and justice, over free markets, profit and individualism. It asserts peoples’ right to participate in decision making and brings together grassroots struggles for environmental, social, economic, gender, racial and intergenerational justice. Food Sovereignty means defending peoples’ rights, land, territories, seeds and biodiversity, promoting agroecology, and fighting the agribusiness model and neoliberal trade and investment policies.
It is based on peasant, family, indigenous, artisanal and cooperative production and distribution, in both cities and rural spaces.
Food Sovereignty recognises and promotes the central role of women in food production and as political subjects; the right of small-scale producers to dignified living conditions and fair pay; the right of workers to decent work conditions and living wages; and the right of the working classes to access healthy and culturally appropriate food in sufficient quantities and at fair prices.
Peasants, family farmers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolks and forest communities are still the main food producers, providing between 70% – 80% of what the world eats, but their needs are permanently ignored by public policies and markets. They also protect territories (forests, water bodies, lands), seeds, and diverse ways of life through agroecology and community forest management.
Agribusiness is a model of agrocommodities production, distribution and consumption guided by a capitalist and patriarchal economy, and by the privatisation, commodification and financialisation of nature as a means to grab territories for profit and homogenise food and food production. It is a model led by transnational corporations, who, along with national elites, act in the interests of the accumulation of wealth and profit.
Agribusinesses grab land and territories, destroy soils and forests, kill fisheries, pollute rivers, oceans and air, poison communities, and commodify essential natural commons and food, all while making billions in profits. The peoples who fight back are increasingly under threat, criminalised and killed.
The movement for Food Sovereignty
We believe it is possible to feed the world, move away from the hunger, climate and biodiversity crises and build societies based on justice and solidarity using agroecological practices for food sovereignty.
Green Alliance Nigeria is part of a strong and growing movement led by peasant, family, indigenous and artisanal food producers and workers, which includes the The International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) and the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security.
