Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

A stocktaking event is planned to be held in October 2019 during CFS 46 Plenary Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) to monitor the use and application of the following CFS policy recommendations:

Set 1: Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security and Nutrition (endorsed in 2013)

Set 2: Connecting Smallholders to Markets (endorsed in 2016)

Set 3: Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition: What Roles for Livestock?

            (endorsed in 2016)



The Committee on World Food Security requests stakeholders to provide inputs on their experiences in applying any of these policy recommendations by 29 April 2019 to inform the CFS 46 event. 

These policy recommendations are of great relevance to all CFS stakeholders, and particularly to the smallholder producers who are the main contributors to food security and nutrition and the most numerous category of family farmers. They are key protagonists of the United Nations Decade on Family Farming and this stocktaking event at CFS 46 will constitute a specific contribution of CFS to the Decade in 2019.

The event will focus on how smallholders have effectively benefitted or are expected to benefit from these CFS policy recommendations. It will also look into the potential application of CFS policy outcomes, especially for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in the context of the UN Decade on Family Farming and the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Given the important role of women in the context of smallholder agriculture, the event will also contribute to mainstreaming the messages of the 2017 CFS Forum on Women’s Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition.

These three interconnected sets of CFS policy recommendations focus on smallholders who play an essential role in ensuring food security and nutrition locally and worldwide. Set 1 provides an overall framework of the recommendations that are promoted by CFS to support smallholder agriculture, in line with the CFS vision. These recommendations stem from the report of the CFS High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) “Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security and nutrition”. The policy recommendations focus on: enabling national policies, governance and their evidence base; promoting access to assets, public goods, social services, research and extension and technology; and enabling investment, access to markets, productive services and resources.

Set 2 results from a more comprehensive analysis of the key challenges and opportunities for improving smallholders’ access to markets. They draw on the outcomes of the CFS High-Level Forum on Connecting Smallholders to Markets held in June 2015. They highlight the importance for smallholders of markets embedded in local, national and regional food systems and propose a series of policy measures to strengthen these markets and smallholders’ access to them in the context of food security and nutrition.

Set 3 contributes to the overall policy reflection on smallholder agriculture by focusing on the role that sustainable agricultural development and in particular livestock has in improving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of food systems. These recommendations stem from the HLPE report “Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock?”.

CFS has consistently encouraged stakeholders to share their experiences on a voluntary basis in using and applying CFS policy main products and other recommendations, either through reporting “individual” experiences by one group of stakeholders (e.g. a member state, civil society, private sector) or through reporting the results of multistakeholder consultations (organized to discuss experiences) by several groups of stakeholders. Guidance to hold multistakeholder consultations at national, regional and global levels is provided in the Terms of Reference to share experiences and good practices in applying CFS decisions and recommendations through organising events at national, regional and global levels, approved by CFS in 2016.

The recommended approach by CFS to organize multistakeholder consultations promotes country-owned and country-led events organized in collaboration and partnership with existing coordination mechanisms and initiatives. National actors should play an active role in the organization of such events at all levels, with possible support from the Rome-based Agencies (Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD, and World Food Programme - WFP) or other stakeholders. The results are expected to be documented in reports prepared in consultation with all groups of stakeholders participating in the event.

All inputs received will contribute to monitoring progress on the use and application of the three sets of CFS policy recommendations. All inputs will be compiled in a document made available for delegates at CFS 46 in October 2019.

Please use the attached template for sharing your experience in applying any of these policy recommendations. You can upload the completed form below or send it via email to [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is 29 April 2019.

Submissions can be made in any of the UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and should be strictly limited to 1,000 words.

The vision of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is to be the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together in a coordinated manner in support of country-led processes towards the elimination of hunger and ensuring food security and nutrition for all human beings. CFS will strive for a world free from hunger where countries implement the Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. More information on the Committee is provided on the CFS website.