Empowering Smallholder Farmers to Achieve Food Sovereignty Through Soil-Less Agriculture

Sammanfattning: This study explores the question of how soil-less agriculture through hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics can empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty as portrayed in documentaries. It addresses the power imbalance between large corporations and smallholder farmers in the traditional agriculture industry. Documentary research approach is used to understand the various applications and research aspects of soil-less agriculture from around the world. Real-life examples from different countries where these methods have been successfully implemented in the agriculture industry, ranging from large industrial settings to smallholder farmers in disadvantaged communities, are analyzed. Further, content analysis is done on these documents by constructing a matrix that combines the process of empowerment and the six pillars of food sovereignty to analyze the different forms of empowerment. The study also investigates how the use of soil-less agriculture can build capabilities through enhanced “well-being freedom” and “agency freedom” and empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty.