as a newcomer to libcurl, I found it hard to find information on whether libcurl provided URL-encoding facilities. It wasn't until a google search found a relevant post in the libcurl mailing list, that I found the curl_easy_escape function.
I think the CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS manpage should point users to the curl_easy_escape() function.
I think they are closely related enough that it should be mentioned twice, once in the "DESCRIPTION" section of the CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS manpage, and again in the "SEE ALSO" section.