Skip to main content

2014 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Opportunities and Challenges for Food Sovereignty Policies in Latin America: The Case of Nicaragua

verfasst von : Saulo Araújo, Wendy Godek

Erschienen in: Rethinking Food Systems

Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

In 2009, Nicaragua joined a growing number of Latin American nations with the passing of its Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security. The law combines elements of both the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty frameworks and offers a broader and radical perspective to achieve the right to food. This chapter explores the origins of the law, the process by which it was passed, and its institutional framework. The chapter puts particular emphasis on the role of peasant and other civil society organizations in conceiving and adopting the law, as well as the mechanisms for participation of civil society in implementing the law. More generally, this chapter explores the potential of the law to enhance democratic food and agricultural policymaking. A member of the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA), Nicaragua offers a unique perspective of the role of internal and external factors in the design and implementation of new food policies to achieve the right to food.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Fußnoten
1
See Sadie Beauregard, Food Policy for People: Incorporating Food Sovereignty Principles into State Governance 26–7 (Apr. 2009) (unpublished senior comprehensive, Urban and Environmental Policy Department, Occidental College, United States).
 
2
These states are affiliated to the Bolivarian Alliance of People of Our America (ALBA).
 
3
Agnès Dhur, U.N. World Food Programme [WFP], Evaluation of the Effects of the Global Financial Crisis at Macro-Level and on Vulnerable Households in Nicaragua (2009).
 
4
Ley No. 693, 18 June 2009, Ley de Soberania y Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional [Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security], La Gaceta [L.G.], N. 133, 16 July 2009 (Nicar.).
 
5
Vía Campesina, The Right to Produce and Access Land – Food Sovereignty: A Future without Hunger (1996).
 
6
While there are a diverse and evolving range of definitions of food sovereignty, some principles common to most all definitions of food sovereignty include the following: priority of local agricultural production to feed people locally; access of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk and landless people to land, water, seeds and livestock breeds and credit; the right to food; the right of smallholder farmers to produce food and a recognition of Farmers Rights; the right of consumers to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced; the right of countries to protect themselves from under-priced agricultural and food imports; the need for agricultural prices to be linked to production costs and to stop all forms of dumping; the populations’ participation in agricultural policy decision-making; the recognition of the rights of women farmers who play a major role in agricultural production in general and in food production in particular; and agroecology as a way not only to produce food but also to achieve sustainable livelihoods, living landscapes and environmental integrity. These principles were further elaborated and discussed at the occasion of the 2007 Nyéléni Food Sovereignty Forum. See Nyeleni Food Sovereignty Forum, Synthesis Report: Nyeleni Forum for Food Sovereignty 2007(2007).
 
7
One of the most commonly used definitions of food security is that of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which states that, “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” The FAO recognizes four “dimensions” of food security: physical availability of food, economic and physical access to food, food utilization, and the stability of the other three dimensions over time. U.N. Food & Agric. Org. [FAO], An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security (2008).
 
8
The right to food focuses on the obligations of states and on allowing people who are negatively affected to use legal remedies to get their rights implemented. States have to guarantee the right to food but have a wide margin of discretion on how to implement it. Taking a rights-based approach, food sovereignty recognizes the right to food as a core principle and provides a pathway for guaranteeing the right to food through its policy prescriptions.
 
9
Sinforio Cáceres Baca & Nadine Lacayo Renner, Soberanía y seguridad Alimentaria en Nicaragua: Causas y Efectos [Food Sovereignty and Security in Nicaragua: Causes and Effects] 35 (2010). See also Michael Zalkin, Peasant Response to State Grain Policy in Revolutionary Nicaragua 3 (The Helen Kellogg Inst. for Int’l Stud., Working Paper No. 94, 1987).
 
10
Harry E. Vanden & Gary Prevost, Democracy and Socialism in Sandinista Nicaragua 55-6, 62-6 (1993).
 
11
Baca & Renner, supranote 9, at 36–7.
 
12
Vanden & Prevost, supra note 10, at 55–6, 62–6; Laura J. Enriquez, Reactions to the Market: Small Farmers in the Economic Reshaping of Nicaragua, Cuba, Russia, and China 71–85 (2010). It should be noted here that the Sandinistas themselves actually implemented policies of economic fiscal austerity in the late 1980s in their efforts to curb the 30,000 % plus rate of inflation; however, this was not in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or any other external actor or institution. Joseph Ricciardi, Economic Policy, in Revolution and Counterrevolution in Nicaragua 263–264 (Thomas W. Walker ed., 1991).
 
13
Enriquez, supra note 12, at 95–120.
 
14
Id. at 109.
 
15
Id. at 108.
 
16
Id. at 111–12.
 
17
U.N. Dev. Programme [UNDP], Human Development Report 2011 (2011); Dilip Ratha et. al., World Bank, The Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011: Nicaragua (2011).
 
18
Enriquez, supra note 12.
 
19
Id., at 117.
 
20
Caroline Sahley et al., U.S. Agency For Int’l Dev. [USAID], The governance Dimensions of Food Security in Nicaragua 25 (2005); U.N. Food & Agric. Org. [FAO], Estado de la Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional en Nicaragua 6–8 (2006).
 
21
Sahley et al., supra note 20, at 25.
 
22
Baca & Renner, supra note 9.
 
23
FAO, supra note 20, at 12.
 
24
The reasons for this are not clear. According to Dora Zeledón, the idea for a food security law emerged in 1997 but the PNSAN was announced before the law was proposed. Furthermore, she states that the proposal for the law was backed by the Sandinista party and was advocated by the Proactive Advocacy Group, which was comprised of organizations working on food security issues. See Dora Zeledón, Proceso de la Ley de SSAN en Nicaragua [Process of the SSAN Law in Nicaragua] (unpublished paper). A possible inference here is that party politics between the dominant Constitutionalist Liberal Party (Bolaños’s party) and the opposition Sandinista party may have interfered with review of the law.
 
25
Annette Aurélie Desmarais et al., Food Sovereignty: Connecting Food, Nature, and Community 3 (2011).
 
26
Orlando Nuñez, La Oligarquia en Nicaragua [Oligarchy in Nicaragua] (2006).
 
27
Continuacion de la Sesion Ordinaria Numero Dos de la Honorable Asamblea Nacional, Correspondiente al Dia de Junio del 2007 [Continuation of the Second Ordinary Session of the Honorable National Assembly, June 12, 2007], 23rd Legislatura (2009).
 
28
This paragraph is largely informed by interviews with National Assembly Deputy Dora Zeledón and Jose Angel Cruz of UNAPA. It is inconsistent with the findings of Elise Montano. See Elise Montano, Food and Power: The Political Economy of Food Security in Nicaragua 37 (2008).
 
29
Zeledón, supra note 24; see also Baca & Renner, supra note 9, at 65.
 
30
Zeledón,supra note 24.
 
31
Ley No. 693, 18 June 2009, Ley de Soberania y Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional [Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security] tit. I, ch. II, sec. 9b, La Gaceta [L.G.], N. 133, 16 July 2009 (Nicar.).
 
32
Continuation of the Second Ordinary Session of the Honorable National Assembly, June 12, 2007, supra note 27.
 
33
Ley No. 693, 18 June 2009, Ley de Soberania y Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional [Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security] tit. I, ch. I, sec. 4a, La Gaceta [L.G.], July 16, 2009 (Nicar.).
 
34
Id. at tit. I, ch. I, art. 4(b).
 
35
Id. at tit. I, ch. I, art. 4(c).
 
36
Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Briefing Note 1: Countries Tackling Hunger With a Right to Food Approach 6 (May, 2010) (“One of the strengths of the Ecuadorian framework law is the emphasis placed in several provisions on small-scale farmers, who in many underdeveloped countries constitute the majority of people affected by hunger and food insecurity.”); see also Beauregard, supra note 1, at 26 (“Countries that have shown the most success and actual implementation of food sovereignty, however, are those that have followed up with legislation that puts food sovereignty into action through concrete programs, support for small scale producers, and agroecological efforts. In all cases, food sovereignty does not mean food self-sufficiency. Rather, it takes into account the way in which food is grown, the consideration of cultural values, the support and rights of small-scale producers, the protection of indigenous knowledge and resources, equitable access to land and productive resources, the creation and support of localized markets, and the democratic participation of the people.”).
 
37
The law includes a specific article on gender equity that states that all initiatives and policies related to the law should address this issue. Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security, supra note 33, at tit. I, ch. II, art. 7.
 
38
Id. at tit. I, ch. I, art. 2.1.
 
39
Id. at tit. II, art. 9 (emphasis added).
 
40
Id. at tit. I, ch. I, art. 4(c).
 
41
Ley No. 11,346, 15 Sept. 2006, Lei de Seguranca Alimentar e Nutritional [Law of Food Security and Nutrition] tit. I, ch. I, art. 5, Diario da Uniao, Aug. 26, 2010 (Nicar.).
 
42
Ley No. 583, 5 May 2009, Ley Organica del Regimen de la Soberania Alimentaria [Organic Law of the Food Sovereignty Regime] Official Supplement Registry, May 5, 2009 (Nicar.).
 
43
Olivier De Schutter, supra note 36 (“Nicaragua which has a framework law in place since 19 June 2009 has adopted a multi-stakeholder approach in order to develop the law, which is why the law now receives broad support from all relevant actors.”).
 
44
Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security, supra note 33, at tit I, ch. I, art. 3(1).
 
45
Ley No. 475, 22 Oct. 2003, Citizen Participation Law (No. 475) of 2003, tit I, art. 7(2) (Nicar.).
 
46
Law of Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security, supra note 33, at tit. I, ch. II, art. 7
 
47
Id. at tit. III, ch. I, art. 32.
 
48
Vanden & Prevost, supra note 10, at 55–6, 62–6; Baca & Renner, supra note 9, at 84–5.
 
49
Id. at 39.
 
50
Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra America [ALBA], Final Declaration of the Managua Presidential Summit Food Sovereignty and Security: “Food For Life” (May 7, 2008).
 
51
Shawn Hattingh, Creating a Regional Alternative to Neo-liberalism, MRZINE (July 2, 2008).
 
52
The Social Movements Council of ALBA-TCP is the principal mechanism that facilitates integration and direct social participation in ALBA-TCP and it reports directly to the Council of Presidents of ALBA-TCP. See Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty, Social Movements Council of ALBA-TCP, http://​www.​alba-tcp.​org/​en/​contenido/​social-movements-council-alba-tcp.
 
53
Baca & Renner, supra note 9.
 
54
Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty, Declaration of Nyéléni (Feb. 27, 2008).
 
55
The Stop CAFTA Coalition, DR-CAFTA: Effects and Alternatives (2008).
 
56
Feed the Future, Nicaragua FY 2010 Implementation Plan 6–7 (2010) (a “working document [] outlining U.S. government planning”).
 
57
Id., at 4.
 
58
Banco Central de Nicaragua, Nicaragua in Cifras: Indicadores Economicos 2 (2011).
 
59
Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba, Sight for Sore Eyes: Cuba’s Vision Restoration Program (2008).
 
Metadaten
Titel
Opportunities and Challenges for Food Sovereignty Policies in Latin America: The Case of Nicaragua
verfasst von
Saulo Araújo
Wendy Godek
Copyright-Jahr
2014
Verlag
Springer Netherlands
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7778-1_3