Theorising consumption in food sovereignty for inclusive food security

Capital accumulation by big corporations in the neoliberal food system has hindered the freedom of farmers to determine what and how to produce (Yan, 2020). This has been enabled through the commodification, globalisation, and industrialisation of production under the corporate food regime (McMichael, 2009; 2013). Food sovereignty (FS) proposes an alternative food system model by promoting the right of peoples to healthy, culturally appropriate, and sustainably produced food, and to determine their own food policies (Nyeleni, 2007). This is anchored on the premise that the 'right to produce' is central to the valued life of farmers and peasants (Bernstein, 2014). FS resists the export and trade orientation of the commodified and globalised production system as well as the 'dumping' of cheap imports under the 'free market' policies facilitated by international financial institutions, which have led to indebtedness, dispossession, and hunger among farmers in the Global South (LVC, 2003). Consequently, FS subsumes capital accumulation under the social reproduction of producers by securing food for self-provisioning and domestic self-sufficiency whilst averting the environmental degradation caused by industrial agriculture practices and preserving the 'peasant way' of farming (Nyeleni, 2007).

But once the freedom to produce has been secured, how should food surpluses be distributed to the rest of the community? And are farmers obligated to produce such surpluses in the first place? Whilst the right of consumers to decide what to eat has been included in the FS definition (LVC, 2003), Bernstein (2014) argues that food access, especially by low-income non-producers, has not been thoroughly explicated in the FS literature, given the peasant orientation of the model. Patel (2007) urges consumers to choose locally and sustainably produced food instead of cheaper industrial imports to directly help small-scale producers, noting that structural changes may take time to happen. This is under the assumption, however, that people have the capability to secure their food choices, undermining the poor who may be forced to patronise cheap processed food at the expense of local producers just to survive. This raises the question: how should the relationship between producers and consumers and their mutual obligations be conceptualised in FS to inclusively address hunger?

This research aims to formulate a consumption theory to address the identified gap in the FS literature. The said theory will serve as basis for the development of a food policy framework for a case study site, particularly the Philippines. These aims are articulated in the primary research question: how should consumption in food sovereignty be conceptualised to achieve inclusive food security? To answer this question, a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques will be employed in the three major components of the research: (1) theory development; (2) theory applicability testing in the Philippine context; and (3) community-based food policy framework formulation.

Explicating consumption in FS will add to the existing literature on neoliberal food system alternatives and will aid in the conceptualisation of a more holistic strategy to address hunger. Moreover, examining consumption vis-à-vis the unfreedoms faced by smallholder farmers and peasants highlights the crucial relationship between producers and consumers in creating an equitable and sustainable food system. Hence, the research will not only contribute to the advancement of the development theory but will also bring attention of political economy scholars to the impacts of community level power dynamics in perpetuating and addressing inequality, beyond the influence of the state and the global order.