Sovereignty and Its Discontents

Abstract

The global food crisis is a clear signal that old belief sys- tems no longer apply. Innovative ideas are necessary to make agriculture simultaneously more inclusive, sustain- able and productive. Hybrid models of problem-oriented collaboration involving competent and committed actors in civil society, farmer organizations, government, acade- mia and business are increasingly crucial in tackling the global challenges of agriculture. They create demand- driven agricultural innovation systems that respond to the needs of small-scale farmers to produce more with less through homegrown innovation. The Food Sover- eignty movement could play a crucial role in this endeav- our because the agro-ecological practices it advocates must be part of a comprehensive approach to sustain- able intensification. Unfortunately, the movement still prefers political confrontation to cooperation on the ground, and its baseline assumptions of agriculture are defensive, not progressive. This article shows why these baseline assumptions are misleading even if they sound intuitively right. Sub-Saharan Africa has become a net importer of food because ideology has always mattered more in agricultural policy than the knowledge gained ????? ????????? ??????????? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? tural research. The Food Sovereignty movement is right about the mistakes of neoliberal economic ideology, but it is silent about the fact that most famines actually oc- curred under socialist and communist regimes that pur- sued the goal of food self-sufficiency. The concept of Food Sovereignty still contains too much old left-wing ideology and too little creative thinking on how to make ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? promote sustainable development. The movement could either become an obstacle to future food security, if it sticks to its ideology-based and confrontational rhetoric, or part of the solution, if it decides to extend collabora- tion beyond like-minded groups and engage in joint prag- matic action.