Food Sovereignty (Reconnecting Food, Nature & Community)

This exceptional collection gives voice to the peasant movements that are planting the seeds of a revolution that could fundamentally alter our relationship with food-and with each other.With increasing hunger in the world, especially among marginalised populations in both the North and South, the current high-input, industrialised, market-driven food system is failing. It is failing to provide for the food needs of all people, failing to respect the principles of environmental sustainability, and it is failing to uphold local empowerment and agrarian citizenship.Around the world, people are resisting the environmental, social and political destruction perpetuated by the industrial agricultural system. This resistance has led to a new and radical agricultural practice - food sovereignty - which puts control in the hands of those who are both hungry and produce the world's food - peasants and family farmers - rather than corporate executives.Advocating a practical, radical change to the way much of our food system operates the contributors, including Raj Patel, Walden Bello, Philip McMichael, Miguel Altieri and Eric Holt-Giménez, show through analysis and case studies that food sovereignty results in increased production, safe food that reaches those who are in the most need and agricultural practices that respect the earth. This is the means to achieving the UN-endorsed goal of food security.Through the voices of the peoples of Africa and the global South, Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News disseminate analysis and debate on the struggle for freedom and justice.Pambazuka Press is a publisher of progressive books on Africa written by leading African academics and activists. Pambazuka News is an award-winning electronic newsletter that is an indispensable source of the authentic voices of Africa's social analysts and activists.