Food sovereignty is in some ways the opposite of the food system we currently have. It means people (farmers, consumers and producers) have the right to control the various aspects of the food supply chain/system which they are part of. When people are able to make decisions about what to produce, eat and sell – they, and the food system, become more resilient. Communities in rural Africa are often most affected by hunger and poverty precisely because they are not contributing to decision-making in the food system, despite their livelihoods being dependent upon it. Because of this, many smallholder farmers feel powerless.

The incredible change we’re making in our projects we use a range of interventions to encourage local food systems to thrive. Before we work with farmers, many of them are dependent on expensive ‘inputs’ such as hybrid seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. These must be bought from large corporations, so when cash flow is a problem, harvests suffer. 

When farmers have nothing to harvest, they buy low-nutrition, processed foods made by large food processing companies. It’s a cycle of disempowerment. In our projects we aim to restore decision making, power and freedom to small producers, sellers and consumers through supporting self-reliance, building on local knowledge and strengthening local enterprises and markets, to improve resilience.