Bilateral/multi-lateral

Regional Unit for Technical Assistance (RUTA) is a joint interagency and government of the seven Central American countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) and seven international development agencies (MAEC, IFAD, ADA, IDB, FAO, IFPRI, IICA ) to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction in rural areas of Central America.

For over 25 years, RUTA has acted as a regional platform for sustainable rural development for the harmonization of international cooperation and coordination with governments and civil society in Central America. RUTA aims to facilitate policy dialogue, development of investment projects, knowledge sharing and cooperation in Central America.

In January 2008, RUTA began Phase VI (2008-2011) , whose priorities are to strengthen the capacities of regional public institutions, national and civil society, the alignment of the agendas of donor agencies and the sharing of knowledge.

In collaboration with colleagues in the Sustainable Development Network and across the Bank, ARD works to reduce poverty through sustainable rural development. To this end, ARD provides analytical and advisory services to the Bank's regions on a wide range of agriculture and rural development topics.

These services include the preparation and implementation of the ARD Action Plan, monitoring of the Bank's portfolio of agriculture and rural projects, and promoting knowledge sharing among agriculture and rural development practitioners, inside and outside the Bank, in order to continually improve the Bank's activities in rural areas.

Implementing Agriculture for Development, World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan: FY2010-12 is the follow up to the broad consensus represented by World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development. It outlines the scaled-up World Bank Group commitment to support the improvement of agriculture’s contribution to food security, to raise the incomes of the poor, to facilitate economic transformation, and to provide environmental services. It builds upon previous themes found in Reaching the Rural Poor, the 2003 Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy. 

Following the insights of the World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, it gives greater attention to:

• Increasing agricultural productivity, especially of poor smallholders, for greater progress in rural poverty alleviation;
• Differentiating the mix of support across the three “country worlds” of agriculture; and
• The role of agriculture in providing environmental services, including agriculture in the context of climate change.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a multilateral mechanism to assist in the implementation of pledges made by the G8++ at L’Aquila in July 2009 and set up in response to a request from the G20 in Pittsburgh in September 2009. The objective is to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security strategic investment plans already being developed by countries in consultation with donors and other stakeholders at the country-level, thereby making aid more predictable in contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 1 to cut hunger and poverty by half by 2015. GAFSP is currently active in Bangladesh, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Togo.

IFDC is an international organization addressing critical issues such as international food security, the alleviation of global hunger and poverty, environmental protection, and the promotion of economic development and self-sufficiency. IFDC focuses on increasing productivity across the agricultural value chain in developing countries by creating and transferring effective and environmentally sound crop nutrient technology and agribusiness expertise. IFDC works closely with farmers, agri-input dealers and output traders, the private sector, local organizations and developing country institutions to achieve sustainable impacts that last long after projects end. IFDC has contributed to the development of institutional capacity building in 150 countries through more than 700 formal training programs, primarily as part of IFDC’s long-term agricultural development projects. Field demonstrations and training have assisted hundreds of thousands of farmers in developing countries.

An extensive list of current projects relevant to agricultural risk management can be found here.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1977 as an international financial institution resulting from the World Food Conference. IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Working with rural poor people, governments, donors, non-governmental organizations, among many other partners, IFAD focuses on country-specific solutions, which involve increasing rural poor peoples' access to financial services, markets, technology, land, and other natural resources. Particularly useful for the FARMD community is IFAD’s Rural Poverty Knowledge base????, which highlights topics related to agricultural risk management including climate change, desertification, food prices, food security and nutrition, rain fed agriculture, rural finance, and livestock and rangeland. IFAD also partners with the World Food Program (WFP) to meet its mission and is also involved in weather index insurance.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a body of the United Nations that works internationally to lead efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, helping developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, and ensure good nutrition for all. Since its founding in 1945, the FAO has focused special attention on developing rural areas, home of 70 percent of the world’s poor and hungry people. The FAO’s scope of work and research is broad, but particularly related to agricultural risk management are FAO’s work on food security and food safety, climate change, pest and pesticide management, , , disaster response and risk management, , bio-safety and biosecurity, food quality. The FAO Initiative on Soaring Food Prices is also relevant to the agricultural risk management community and the FAO also houses useful databases and information systems that relate to ag-risk management. Examples are the Contract Farming Resource Center; the Global Information and Early Warning System;and  the International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health (IPFSAPH).

The World Bank assists clients to develop and apply more effective and sustainable strategies for managing agricultural risks through investment lending and technical assistance involving (i) physical infrastructure (e.g., irrigation and drainage facilities); (ii) technology development and transfer (e.g., improved crop varieties and animal breeds); (iii) improved management practices (e.g., integrated pest management, quality control); (iv) financial instruments (e.g., insurance, savings; inventory credit; catastrophe bonds); and /or (v) public programs (e.g., safety nets). This work is undertaken across the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network, within several financial sector units and the International Finance Corporation.

Under the program led by the Agricultural Risk Management Team (ARMT), with financial support of the European Union and the Swiss and Dutch Governments, particular emphasis has been placed on supporting market-based risk management approaches and supporting broader applications of agronomic, weather, and price data for ex ante risk management. This program involves technical assistance in identifying and quantifying risks in agriculture and agricultural supply chains, and advisory services and training on alternative risk management approaches and instruments. The World Bank’s support for agricultural risk management is normally provided in conjunction with other development partners, including bilateral and multilateral agencies, regional technical organizations, research and training centers, NGOs, and others.

The objectives of MEDROPLAN are  to develop Guidelines for drought preparedness plans and to set up a Network for drought preparedness in Mediterranean countries. The Guidelines provide an integrated approach to face droughts from a risk management perspective and therefore minimizing the impacts of drought in the population and resources.

Insurance providers in developing regions rarely offer the hazard insurance familiar to industrialized countries. Earthquake, flood, and hurricane victims often lose their homes in an instant, recovering none of their assets or investment unless they are fortunate enough to be part of a donor-funded disaster relief program. Likewise, droughts can wipe out the crops or livestock that farmers rely on for income.

IFC, together with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), also a member of the World Bank Group, has established the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) to address this problem. GIIF takes an innovative index-based approach to insurance that aims to expand access to insurance products in developing countries, and particularly to farmers and people in agrarian communities.

The European Commission (EC) is the primary donor and committed €24.5 million to the GIIF Trust Fund. The EC’s support covers the development of local capacity building activities, the policy and regulatory window of the Program as well as product development and specific risk transfer projects in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. GIIF is a global program and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan’s Ministry of Finance provide additional funding to the Trust Fund to cover its activities in other regions.

GIIF projects by Region:

Implementation partners funded under GIIF are:

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Kilimo Salama (Syngenta Foundation - Kenya/Rwanda)
• International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI- Kenya)
• Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC (Mozambique)
• MicroEnsure (Rwanda)
• PlaNet Guarantee (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal)

Latin America and the Caribbean

• MiCRO (Haiti)

South Asia

• Sanasa Insurance (Sri Lanka)
• Bangladesh feasibility study

East Asia and Pacific

• Maipark (Indonesia)
• Typhoon Index Insurance project in the Philippines (exp to start in November 2013)

GIIF Technical Partnership

GIIF has also entered into a Technical Partnership with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions which provides technical services to GIIF projects and supports the Program’s objectives through its long-standing experience in developing innovative risk transfer solutions for emerging markets.

Collaboration with IBRD

GIIF supports the regulatory and policy reforms for index-based agricultural insurance. Projects are ongoing in Nigeria and in the 14 Francophone West African countries in the CIMA region. Additionally, efforts in capacity building to develop an appropriate policy and regulatory framework for index-based agricultural insurance in 14 countries across Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and Latin America are progressing through the involvement of IBRD.

For further information, visit the IFC GIIF Website

The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is a partnership of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) system to support the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA, endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 60/195 is the primary international agreement for disaster reduction. The principal strategic goal of the HFA is to effectively integrate, in a coherent manner, disaster risk considerations into sustainable development policies, planning, programming, and financing at all levels of government.