Antecedents: A Tale of Three Cities

WFP had its antecedents in the various attempts to set up some form of multilateral world food security arrangement since the time of the League of Nations before the Second World War. These attempts tried to rationalize food production, supply and trade for the benefit of both producers and consumers, in developing and developed countries. They focused attention on two basic concerns: first, to reconcile the interests of producers and consumers by protecting them from uncontrolled fluctuations in world agricultural production and prices; and secondly, to use agricultural output in excess of commercial market demand (the so-called agricultural ‘surpluses’) to assist economic and social development in developing countries, without creating disincentive to their domestic agricultural production or disruption to local or international trade.