Food Sovereignty

Abstract Food sovereignty is a concept with a strategic purpose. Coined in the early 1990s by the emerging international coalition of peasant farmers, La Vía Campesina, “food sovereignty” referred initially to national sovereignty over food policy, as a first political step. Ultimately it refers to a democratic vision of community and regional control of the multifunctional features of agriculture (land preservation, ecological stewardship, food provisioning, rural employment, and cultural sustainability), and has inspired an international food sovereignty movement comprising peasants, the landless, small pastoralists, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples. It is represented by the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty ( www.foodsovereignty.org ).