Food Sovereignty In Hawaiʻi

Before the introduction of Westerner’s to the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiʻi was totally dependent on itself to produce a food resource to feed thousands of people. Hawaiians created agriculture systems that were both efficient and sustainable, from taro patches that utilized the natural flow of water from mauka (upland) to makai (oceanside), to fishponds that accounted for the natural life cycles of fish and preserved their populations. Using these methods, Hawaiians were able to farm for food in a way that ensured enough for themselves and generations to come.

During that time, Hawaiʻi’s methods of food production perpetuated the idea of food sovereignty, which is defined as the “right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.” This definition is found in the Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, in Mali, 2007.

Food sovereignty doesn’t only deal with the agricultural aspect of food production, but also its cultural and sociological implications. In Hawaiʻi, the land and its natural resources were revered as elders, beings that had to be respected and taken care of. One ʻōlelo noeaʻu (Hawaiian proverb) that perpetuates this idea is “He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka”. This literally translates to “The land is chief, man is a servant.” Since the land provided shelter, food, and means for survival, it was respected and people were sure to cultivate and use it in a manner that was both respectful and sustainable.

Hawaiʻiʻs current food situation drastically differs from this idea of food sovereignty. Hawaiʻi is located about 2,506 miles from the continental United States, and about 85-90% of Hawaiʻi’s food is imported. Corn, a crop foreign to Hawaiʻi, has become the stateʻs largest cash crop. This puts Hawaiʻi in a vulnerable position, as natural disasters and global events can and often do disrupt shipping and the food supply.

Additionally, studies have shown that Hawaiʻi can become self-sustaining with proper land management and usage. According to Brittany Lyte, an author at Civil Beat, only 6% of Hawaiʻiʻs land could have produced more than a million metric tons of food, enough to Hawaiʻiʻs population of 1.2 million pre 1777. This same amount of food could feed 86% of the islands’ current population of 1.43 million. The state’s current agricultural lands take up three times as much land, and produce 151,700 metric tons of food through conventional farming methods (2021.) These findings suggest that traditional farming practices could be implemented into Hawaiʻi’s current agricultural practices in order to provide food security and promote environmental sustainability. Creating an agricultural system that supports food production in Hawaiʻi would also have a large economic impact. "Adaptability is a hallmark of traditional Hawaiian agriculture," says Noa Lincoln, an assistant professor of tropical plant and soil sciences at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. The Office of Planning, Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism partnered with the State of Hawaiʻi’s Department of Agriculture to create and implement a food security and food self-sufficiency strategy. Its goal is to increase the amount of locally grown food Hawaiʻi residents consume, and is self described as being a first step to restoring food sovereignty here in Hawaiʻi. “The economic impact of food import replacement is significant. Replacing just 10% of the food we currently import would amount to approximately $313 million. Assuming a 30% farm share, $94 million would be realized at the farm-gate which would generate an economy-wide impact of an additional $188 million in sales, $47 million in earnings, $6 million in state tax revenues, and more than 2,300 jobs” (Office of Planning & Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism & Department of Agriculture, 2012).

There are numerous resources on learning more about food sovereignty here in Hawaiʻi. The state’s increased food security and food self-sufficiency strategy is linked below, and is the source of most of the information used in this article.