Tigerjeet Ballayram^1,, Fitzroy J. Henry²

This paper proposes a new framework to advance food and nutrition security and sovereignty in Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) countries. This “Food and Nutrition Security and Sovereignty” approach, integrates both the Food Sovereignty (FSv) and the Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) approaches into a single, unifying framework. It also elevates FSv to the same level that the FNS approach has occupied in the regional FNS policy space over the past two decades. Despite decades of praxis in the region’s food systems by policy makers, FNS outcomes have not met expectations. These outcomes are rooted, inter alia, in the conceptual framework of the FNS approach that has dominated FNS analyses and related policy prescriptions in the region over the past two decades. At the same time, the FSv approach has rarely been countenanced by governments in the region and their international partners, even though its raison d’etre is to advance the development agenda of small and medium scale food producers. The new framework emphasizes the urgency to address nutrition security, in light of increasing prevalence of nutrition-related chronic diseases, and their co-morbidities, in CARICOM countries. It also places a premium on the Right to Food, governance for FNS and sovereignty, empowerment of small/medium scale food producers, management of food imports, maintenance of agro-ecological integrity, and the sustainability of food systems. The characteristics of a Rights-based sustainable food system are articulated, and a policy framework is developed for advancing food and nutrition security and sovereignty in the region and elsewhere. The paper draws from the recent literature on the FNS and FSv approaches, the state of food and nutrition security and sovereignty in CARICOM countries, and over two decades of the authors’ uninterrupted experiences working on FNS, poverty, and vulnerability issues in Caribbean countries.

food and nutrition security, food sovereignty, nutrition and health, sustainable food systems, CARICOM