11 October 2013: At the 40th Meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS 40), delegates from over 130 countries and 150 civil society and private sector organizations addressed topics ranging from the importance of integrating smallholder agriculture into national policies and investments to considering the impact of biofuels on food security.

The CFS called on governments and stakeholders to review biofuel policies to ensure they do not result in food insecurity, and called on researchers to work on improving the efficiency of biofuels and develop solutions adapted to smallholder farmers. The CFS adopted policy recommendations calling for the development of country-level approaches to increase investments in smallholder agriculture that consider interactions between agriculture, urban and rural sector polices, strategies and budgets.

The meeting took place from 7-11 October 2013, at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. During the week, the CFS considered work streams related to: principles for responsible agricultural investments; how to address food insecurity in protracted crises situations; the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition; rules of procedures; a framework for monitoring CFS decisions; priorities and emerging issues; and the CFS communication strategy.

Side events throughout the week included events on the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, as well as a multi-stakeholder dialogue on natural resource management hosted by the FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

The CFS elected Gerda Verburg of the Netherlands as Chair for the next 2 years. [FAO Press Release] [Committee on World Food Security]