Food sovereignty

Food sovereignty is a concept defined by the right of people to healthy and culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically-sound and sustainable methods and the right to define their own food and agriculture systems.  Firstly claimed by Via Campesina in 1996, this concept has been relayed by many people: peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal - fishing, pastoralist-led grazing...

The rights to food and to decent life pass by recognizing and protecting the right of access to land, seeds, water, suitable credits, but also by sharing the agricultural knowledge and by equitable transfer of technology well adapted. It is also important to promote gender equity because hunger vulnerability is linked to the women’s status while most of suppliers of food to the household in Africa are women.

Unfortunately, some policies and some kinds of investment threaten the access to land, water and seeds, and even the practices of agriculture well-adapted to climate change,environment and to the culture of people.

Recent food crisis have highlighted the neglect of political will to develop agriculture competent to feed people of today and tomorrow in a sustainable way.

AEFJN FOOD SOVEREIGNTY FEBRUARY 2013

The EU Biofuels policy: Fuelling food insecurity in Africa
	EU biofuel mandates have stimulated demand for biofuels, which is one of the principal factors contributing to the current food price volatility. This is equally a cause of large-scale land acquisitions by EU biofuel companies, which divert cropland away from food-producing family farmers. These large scale investments reduce family farmers’ access to land and water. Read more...