On Monday 23 March, the World Bank published a report proposing a set of recommendations for strengthening Agricultural Risk Management (ARM) in Europe. The aim is to make the system more agile in the face of rapidly changing climatic, biological and market risks.
The report sets out nine main recommendations, including:
- expanded insurance coverage and promote innovation. MRA instruments should cover more types of losses, including income-based products, and develop data-driven solutions to support the transition to more resilient production;
- reduce barriers and costs for small farms. The report recommends targeted aid, producer groups as intermediaries and advance subsidies;
- strengthen mutual funds. These mechanisms, which complement insurance, must be simplified and extended to cover loss of income;
- harmonise ARM support within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Fragmented support between different instruments reduces efficiency. Harmonisation of subsidies, eligible costs and operational mechanisms is recommended, particularly for insurance, mutual funds and income stabilisation tools;
- clarify the framework for co-insurance and co-reinsurance pools. Current regulations are ambiguous;
- improve transparency and data collection. Post-disaster aid mechanisms are often opaque and fragmented.
The World Bank report (https://aeur.eu/f/lbu ) stresses the importance of better protecting farms, particularly the smallest ones, sharing best practices between countries and supporting the transition to resilient and sustainable agricultural systems. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)