FARMD Inaugural Workshop

The inaugural workshop of the Forum for Agricultural Risk Management in Development (FARMD), held October 27-29, 2009 in Lucerne, Switzerland, brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from development agencies, commercial organizations and regional organizations, all interested in agricultural risk management.  The objective of the workshop was to identify different perspectives of agricultural risk and risk management approaches, and to have the workshop participants develop the foundation, framework, and set of activities to be pursued by the Forum.

The workshop was an initial step towards filling the knowledge exchange and interaction gap between different organizations active in the agriculture risk management sphere. This was achieved through various presentations and subsequent discussions highlighting different perspectives of agricultural risks.

Through interactive simulation exercises, participants realized the power of collaboration among different actors in the agriculture sector, the value of cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches, and the significance of different country settings for managing risk. They also identified various methods for managing risks, including policy change and reform, business strategy, technology, financial instruments, infrastructure, collective action, and negotiations; and discussed the wide array of expertise necessary to address these methods. The exercise also illustrated the different perspectives (and objectives) that public and private sector stakeholders bring to the deliberation of risk management challenges and solutions.