CFS Policy Convergence Products Database

States should take steps, to the extent that resources permit, so that any measure of an economic or financial nature likely to have a negative impact on existing levels of food consumption of vulnerable groups be accompanied by provision for effective food safety nets. Safety nets should be linked to other complementary interventions that promote food security in the longer term

States and relevant non-state actors should ensure, in accordance with international law, safe and unimpeded access to the populations in need, as well as for international needs assessments, and by humanitarian agencies involved in the distribution of international food assistance

States should consider accompanying food assistance in safety net schemes with complementary activities to maximize benefits towards ensuring people's access to and utilization of adequate food. Essential complementary activities include access to clean water and sanitation, health care interventions and nutrition education activities

The provision of international food aid in emergency situations should take particular account of longer-term rehabilitation and development objectives in the recipient countries, and should respect universally recognized humanitarian principles.

6. International trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development, and the alleviation of poverty and improving food security at the national level. 7. States should promote international trade as one of the effective instruments for development, as expanded international trade could open opportunities to reduce hunger and poverty in many of the developing countries. 8. It is recalled that the long-term objective referred to in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture is to establish a fair and market-oriented trading system through a programme of fundamental reform [...]

12. Consistent with the Monterrey Consensus, developed countries should assist developing countries in attaining international development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, by providing adequate technical and financial assistance and by making concrete efforts towards the targets for ODA of 0.7 percent of GNP to developing countries and 0.15 percent to 0.2 percent of GNP to least developed countries. This should be linked to efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of aid, including through better coordination, closer integration with national [...]

15. The organs and specialized agencies related to human rights should continue to enhance the coordination of their activities based on the consistent and objective application of international human right instruments, including the promotion of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food. The promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms must be considered a priority objective of the United Nations in accordance with its purposes and principles, in particular the purpose of international cooperation. In the framework of these purposes and [...]

13. States that provide international assistance in the form of food aid should regularly examine their relevant policies and, if necessary, review them to support national efforts by recipient States to progressively realize the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. In the broader context of food security policy, States should base their food aid policies on sound needs assessment that involves both recipient and donors and that targets especially needy and vulnerable groups. In this context, States should provide such assistance in a manner that takes into [...]

14. States, international organizations, civil society, the private sector, all relevant non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders should promote the strengthening of partnerships and coordinated action, including programmes and capacity development efforts, with a view to strengthening the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security

4. Consistent with commitments made at various international conferences, in particular the Monterrey Consensus, developed countries should assist developing countries in attaining international development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration. States and relevant international organizations according to their respective mandates should actively support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food at the national level. External support, including South'South cooperation, should be coordinated with national policies and priorities.

11. States and relevant international organizations should, as appropriate, pursue external debt relief measures vigorously and expeditiously in order to release resources for combating hunger, alleviating rural and urban poverty and promoting sustainable development. Creditors and debtors must share the responsibility for preventing and resolving unsustainable debt situations. Speedy, effective and full implementation of the enhanced heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative, which should be fully financed by additional resources, is critical. Furthermore, all official and [...]

5. Developed and developing countries should act in partnership to support their efforts to achieve the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security through technical cooperation, including institutional capacity building, and transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, as committed in the major international conferences, in all areas covered in these guidelines, with special focus on impediments to food security such as HIV/AIDS

16. States may report on a voluntary basis on relevant activities and progress achieved in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines on the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, to the FAO Committee on World Food Security (CFS) within its reporting procedures.

The objective of the VGFSyN is to contribute to the process towards achieving sustainable food systems and improved nutrition, recalling that transformation of food systems should be encouraged in a coherent manner, as appropriate and in accordance with and dependent on national contexts and capacities, in accordance with the three dimensions of sustainable development. The aim is also to present a set of guidelines that help ensure that diets needed for adequate nutrition are accessible, available, affordable, safe and of adequate quality and quantity, conforming with beliefs, culture [...]

The VGFSyN include six guiding principles that emerged from the consultation process as foundational when considering the different actions that should be followed to contribute to the process towards achieving sustainable food systems and improved nutrition for all.

Promote youth initiatives, including education, training, rural advisory services and inclusive finance, to develop their capacity and facilitate access to land and resources, in order to enable them to be drivers of improvement in sustainable agriculture development, and involved in all levels of food systems.

Strengthen the development, conservation, sustainable use and management of livestock genetic resources in line with the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, stressing the importance of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS), and promote access and benefit-sharing for animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, in line with relevant internationally agreed treaties;

Promote sustainability and improvement of all systems of production, including organic approaches, agro-ecological approaches, and sustainable intensification, so as to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems, minimize environmental degradation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions per unit of product

Promote integration of food security and nutrition (FSN) into related policies to maximize the positive role that sustainable agricultural development and particularly livestock have in improving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of food systems, and strengthen coherence between sectoral policies and programmes

Build on guidance from relevant international and regional intergovernmental organizations and agreements, and take into account, as appropriate, the work of multi-stakeholder platforms and partnerships, which are dedicated to sustainable agricultural development and livestock specific issues

Facilitate inclusive access to quality social services, safety nets, extension, and breeding and veterinary services, particularly for smallholders, including those that are family farmers, and pastoralists.

Promote integrated agricultural systems making better use of natural resources, halting deforestation, restoring degraded lands, improving soil quality, and fostering the sustainable management of water resources

Promote gender equality and women's empowerment, ensuring equal access to livestock productive resources, capacity building and education for women and foster women's equal participation in decision-making

Develop and implement policies and tools to facilitate farmers' access to markets and credit to help improve their livelihoods;

Respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women working in agriculture, including the livestock sector

Promote integrated and balanced approaches between policies and broader national strategies, including gender targeted interventions, such as those on local economic development and rural-urban planning, to facilitate their support of markets linked to local, national, and regional food systems

Invest in and improve processing and storage equipment and facilities and their availability and accessibility across rural and urban areas to enhance availability, quality, nutritional value and food safety, and reduce seasonality of food insecurity and food losses and waste

Develop or improve smallholder-targeted infrastructure, such as irrigation, small-scale centres for processing and packaging; and infrastructure that links rural areas with urban areas and relevant markets, such as feeder roads, and market places for direct sales; and improve access to energy

Improve access to inclusive financial systems, adapted to the needs of smallholders, which provide a wide range of services and innovative financial products, microfinance, special lines of credit, start-up capital, and insurance

Promote smallholder products with specific quality characteristics which increase income and can respond to consumer demand while preserving traditional practices and knowledge, and agricultural biodiversity

Promote inclusive participation in local food systems by encouraging relevant authorities' engagement with all interested actors, including smallholders' organizations, consumers and producers, especially women and youth

Facilitate production diversification to increase resilience to climate change, natural disasters and price shocks, to enable more diverse food consumption and reduce seasonal food and income fluctuations

Promote institutional innovation and improve agricultural production systems. Enhance the degree of organization of smallholders to better enable them to integrate into the food value chains and increase the income

Recognize the environmental, social, and economic value of food produced, and acknowledge the key role smallholders provide in the sustainable use and management of natural resources

Prevent and minimize significant food price volatility risks to FSN in affected countries, in particular water stressed net food importing countries, through strategies that encompass all sources of water, instruments including inter alia through, risk insurance, social protection mechanisms, early warning systems, and emergency food reserves, and assistance, in accordance with international obligations

Invest in the modernization, improvement and sustainable extension of rainfed and irrigated agricultural systems, and technologies adapted to local contexts with special attention to those used by smallholder food producers, in order to enhance the productivity of water considering, where appropriate, public-private partnerships with appropriate regulations to safeguard the public interest

Enhance the resilience of agriculture, notably rainfed and pastoral systems, for the benefit of all food producers, especially smallholders, in light of climate change and water variability, through integrated water resources and ecosystems management, sustainable agricultural practices and risk management instruments;

Support cross-sectoral and multistakeholder participatory and independent platforms and processes for research, knowledge exchange and voluntary technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, involving local communities and farmer organizations to improve water management for FSN

Strengthen the capacity of communities and water user organizations to adopt water-saving practices and technologies for water storage, re-use and safe disposal of wastewater and rainwater and to facilitate multiple water uses

Increase efficiency in the use of water at basin level and minimise adverse effects of water use on land use options, water availability and water quality for downstream activities, people and the environment

Respect, and preserve traditional knowledge on sustainable water management and adaptation to shocks and stressors in order to strengthen the resilience of livelihoods

Develop and share knowledge, technologies and tools related to water for FSN

Manage risk and increase resilience to water variability for FSN

Increase investment in research, technological and social innovation, with due attention to small-scale food producers' needs and knowledge, throughout the food chain, for effective reduction of FLW as well as for adding value to agricultural products in the whole food value chain, for example through the extension of shelf life while protecting food safety and nutritional value.

Develop and improve practices and industry standards related to product sourcing and retail to reduce FLW, in particular standards used to accept or reject food produce (e.g. cosmetic standards for fruit, vegetables, livestock and fish products). This can be done, for example, by introducing differentiated pricing to prevent economic and nutrition value losses.

Utilize mechanisms for measuring improvement over time, setting targets as appropriate, and introduce an enabling environment through policies and incentives to reduce FLW, in accordance with national priorities, based on a 'food use-not-waste' hierarchy (i.e. prevention, food recovery and redistribution of safe and nutritious food to people).

Carry out research in FLW in order to develop a systemic analysis framework or methodology to quantify and reduce FLW, and assess the impact of alternative uses of FLW such as for feed, energy and industrial uses, etc.

Contribute to the provision of appropriate extension services and training, especially focused on small-scale transport, storage, processing, packaging and distribution systems to reduce FLW.

Integrate FLW concerns and solutions, and a food systems' approach, as appropriate, into agricultural, food and other relevant policies and development programmes.

Encourage all stakeholders to optimize the use of resources, reduce FLW and seek solutions for sorting of food waste and reducing waste to landfills.

Cooperate, and support actions, to promote participatory research, together with small-scale food producers to reduce FLW.

Improve coordination of policies, strategies, and actions to reduce FLW

Improve governance for agriculture and rural development through a coordinated multi-sectoral approach, with particular focus on smallholder agriculture, ensuring adequate participation of all relevant organizations, especially those representing smallholder farmers. This involves developing context-specific solutions for smallholder-sensitive public and private investments. Consider experiences such as the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) and others.

Build or further develop a country-owned vision for smallholder agriculture, in the context of broad-based national, and agricultural development, that positions smallholder agriculture firmly within integrated policies and strategies, that includes connecting smallholders to markets, that is articulated together with all national stakeholders, especially smallholder farmers, of whom women represent a majority in many countries, their organizations and their representatives, in the context of sustainable development and transparent rights-based processes and guidelines.

Guided by this vision and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, consider revisiting agricultural, urban and rural sector policies, strategies and budgets, with particular attention to enabling smallholder access - especially for women - to productive assets, local, national and regional markets, appropriate training, research, technology and farm support services.

Support the review, financing and implementation of smallholder inclusive, gender-sensitive, multi-sectoral, policies and strategies linked to sustainable agricultural development, with a particular supporting role by international development partners and especially IFAD, FAO and WFP, the World Bank, bilateral funding agencies and regional development banks.

Help facilitate improvement of fisheries-relevant policies and strategies, by promoting transparency and inclusiveness, especially effective participation of small-scale fisheries, and the integration of fisheries and aquaculture issues into the major international programmes and initiatives, and giving due consideration to food security, nutrition and poverty alleviation.

Mainstream gender equality and women's empowerment within the country-led vision and strategy for agricultural development. In addition, encourage gender specific support services in view of the critical role of women and to address the specific needs and constraints faced by both women and men smallholder farmers.

Address constraints to engaging young women and men in smallholder agriculture, as well as in related non-farm rural sectors, through targeted policy interventions. These include strengthening and ensuring equal access to education and training systems.

Explore geographically inclusive territorial development as an approach to effectively coordinate cross-sectoral public and private investments, in particular in smallholder agriculture as well as in the non-farm economy.