Expanding the possibilities for a future free of hunger

Abstract

In attempting a rapprochement between food security and food sovereignty, it is important to understand their full historical contexts. It is also important to note that they are not ‘like’ categories. Food security is a normative objective, where food sovereignty is a normative process. The rejection of food security by some food sovereignty writers reflects too narrow an understanding of the rich history of food security and its continuing importance in policy research and analysis as well as in providing direction for food security laws and programmes. Many equate food security with a simplistic insistence on supply to the exclusion of food security’s other dimensions. This is mistaken but should not lead to a rejection of all food security work. Food security and food sovereignty are complementary rather than substitutable terms. Respect for the histories and achievements of both will expand our possibilities for realizing a future free of hunger.