At their informal meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Monday 4 May, European agriculture ministers emphasised the need, within the framework of the post-2027 common agricultural policy (CAP), to strengthen the risk prevention tools affecting the agricultural sector (see EUROPE 13836/11 - on the World Bank report).
Following the informal meeting, Cypriot Minister of Agriculture Maria Panayiotou told the press that the resilience of European agriculture must be bolstered against climatic and economic risks, particularly in the context of prolonged droughts in the Mediterranean region.
She emphasised that the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council had made risk management central to the discussions in order to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy in food matters and to inform thinking on the post-2027 common agricultural policy (CAP). In her view, prevention must become a “central pillar of agricultural policy”, with greater resources devoted to tools for anticipation and early intervention, rather than being limited to a solely reactive approach to crisis management.
The EU Council’s president-in-office advocated for a broader European approach, extending beyond the CAP alone, that includes instruments such as a reinsurance mechanism for natural disasters and strengthened early warning and prevention systems.
“We need to increase the uptake of risk management tools, and we need an integrated strategic response at both EU and Member State level”, said European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen.
Crisis measures, like the agricultural reserve, should complement rather than replace risk management strategies, given that financial resources are limited, according to the commissioner.
Agriculture is, by its very nature, an activity highly exposed to various hazards, a fact that justifies public support. However, the common agricultural policy does more than just secure farmers’ incomes: it can also finance investment and agri-environmental and climate measures to bolster the resilience of farms. This could include new irrigation infrastructures, precision farming or even research into crops that are more resistant to climate change, the Commission noted.
In the future CAP, “we will expect a specific risk management strategy from each and every Member State”, said Mr Hansen. Risks must therefore be better anticipated and factored into agricultural decision-making at an early stage.
Luis Planas, the Spanish minister, highlighted the need to “distinguish between market crises and climate crises”. We have to “strengthen agricultural insurance systems for farmers and livestock breeders at European level, that is, set up a form of European reinsurance to cover risk peaks”.
France’s Annie Genevard stressed the need not only to respond more effectively to extreme weather events, but also to prevent them. She cited the French reform of the agricultural insurance system as an example. “We must go further and work actively on prevention to build greater resilience to these climate phenomena”, she said. She called for the development of tools that would enable both a more effective response to hazards and investment in anticipatory solutions (such as water storage). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)