CFS: CFS History

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was established in 1974 in the wake of the global food crisis of the early 1970s, which saw severe food shortages and price spikes that exposed the vulnerabilities in the world’s food system. Created under the framework of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the CFS was designed as an intergovernmental body to oversee and coordinate efforts to combat food insecurity. Its primary role was to provide policy advice to Member States, monitor the global food situation, and recommend actions to prevent or respond to food crises. The Committee was intended to facilitate communication and cooperation among governments, with a focus on stabilizing global food markets and preventing future crises. During its early years, CFS’s main focus was on monitoring food supply and demand across the globe, as well as providing early warnings of potential food shortages. It sought to ensure that the international community could respond in a coordinated way to any disruptions in food production or distribution.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, CFS continued to serve as a platform for governments to discuss and share information on food security. During this period, the CFS helped raise awareness on the importance of food security as a global issue, but it lacked the broader participatory mechanisms that would later characterize its post-2009 reform structure. The eruption of the food crisis in late 2007-2008, followed by the financial and economic crisis in 2008, unveiled a long-standing vacuum in global governance of food security. This has resulted in numerous calls for a new design of the governance system, building on existing institutions such as CFS.