The event organised by the InovaSeguro project gathered important reflections for agricultural insurance.
The InovaSeguro project of the EUROCLIMA+ programme in Brazil seeks to improve public policies aimed at increasing the climate resilience of Brazilian family farming through adaptation measures, such as agricultural insurance for small-scale producers. In this context, a webinar entitled "The future of agricultural insurance is at stake" was held, which was translated into Spanish as well as English and Portuguese.
In coordination with the Brazilian Ministries of Economy and Agriculture, Euroclima+ carries out actions to support public policies prioritised by the government. This study on the importance of public policies in smallholder risk management represents one of the programme's priority actions in the country and served to elaborate a roadmap for an agricultural risk management strategy aimed at the resilience of family farmers and thus develop a risk management strategy focused on family farmers.
After the welcoming words of Carla Navarro (EUROCLIMA+ Coordinator in Brazil) and the contextualisation of the initiative in the results achieved by the project, Cristina Carvalho from the Delegation of the European Union and focal point for EUROCLIMA+ in Brazil, explained the important role of the programme. Carvalho said that there is a lot of demand from the Brazilian government to carry out these types of projects through the programme and that this specific project was a demand from the Ministry of Agriculture and Economy that was carried out with the support of GIZ.
"This diagnosis of risk and tools for small farmers is quite important," Carvalho said.
The technical moderation of the event was done by Dr. Gilson Martins, professor of risk management at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, and collaborator of the InovaSeguro project.
Mr. Guilherme Soria Bastos Filho (Secretary of Agrarian Policy) gave a vision of the future through the Agrarian Insurance Premium programme. He highlighted that the current moment of the programme is a quite delicate moment, due to the climatic events that have happened in recent years. Events that show once again the need for agricultural insurance.
This was followed by the presentation of the study on the importance of public policies for the management of small farmers' risks, presented by Dr. Daniel Miquelluti (Researcher at FUPEF - Fundação de Apoio da Universidade Federal do Paraná). The study (carried out in the framework of the Euroclima+ Project in Brazil) highlights the great relevance that risk programmes have for food production, thanks to the safety net they provide, which ensures the permanence of small farmers in the sector. Dr. Miquelluti also presented emerging technologies for use in agricultural insurance.
Dr. Seth Meyer, Chief Economist of the USDA, presented conditions necessary for the development of agricultural insurance. Dr. Meyer stressed that one of the characteristics of American farm insurance is the ability to adapt to new conditions and to learn from mistakes. Today, more than 90% of US farmers take out agricultural insurance. The growth of income support mechanisms and parametric insurance in the United States was also shown.
After a summary of the topics covered in the webinar by Peng Yaohao (General Coordinator of Agri-Environmental Business of the Ministry of Economy), a discussion was held among all participants.
One of the issues discussed was the importance of reinsurance mechanisms, which is one of the foundations for sustaining agricultural insurance, and which in the case of the US has strong government support. Two other issues discussed were the cross-checking of environmental data for the granting of subsidies for insurance policies in Brazil and the urgent need for catastrophe funds to cope with periods of higher-than-expected losses.
In his concluding remarks, Professor Martins stressed the importance of risk management mechanisms such as agricultural insurance for climate adaptation and the global exchange of experiences on agricultural insurance.
We welcome the collaboration with the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on this event, in the context of work on drought and food security. As a topic of great relevance to land users, the information presented during the event will be a useful input for the UNCCD in its progress and knowledge management on agricultural insurance. We would like to thank the UNCCD for the great support in the technical organisation of this event.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain. Its objective is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean by promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation, resilience and investment. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme.