Food sovereignty in Ecuador: peasant struggles and the challenge of institutionalization

Abstract

The Ecuadorian Constitution (2008) declared food sovereignty a strategic goal and a government obligation, embracing many of the proposals put forth since the late 1990s by Ecuadorian federations linked to Vía Campesina. The issue of food sovereignty has expanded from the inner circles of peasant organizations to the wider context of the whole Ecuadorian society. The paper provides an overview of this process, describing the collective actions that made it possible. Moreover, it attempts to explain the reasons why the ‘Agrarian Revolution’ is currently evaluated as weak, and the motivations for a gap between constitutional mandates and the ongoing official policies.