The First PARM Advisory Committee Meeting was held on October 29th via Teleconference from NEPAD Headquarters Offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. Advisory Committee Members from Agrinatura, Cargill, Comesa, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank (WB), World Food Programme (WFP) and the East Africa Grain Council (EAGC) actively participated from their respective headquarters. NEPAD and IFAD (Chair of the Steering Committee) also participated.

The discussions, chaired by PARM Senior Programme Manager, opened with the presentation of the recently appointed PARM Secretariat Staff and presentation of the PARM process, linkages with theThe Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework, and the importance of building on on-going agricultural risk management initiatives. Main topic in the agenda was the review of the Advisory Committee Terms of Reference in order to identify potential roles and comparative advantages that the Advisory Committee Members could bring into the process. Early discussions on how to better draft Terms of References for Risk Assessment Studies were also raised.

Conclusions and action were agreed with the objective to ensure that the Advisory Committee plays an important role in providing technical support and input to the PARM Process and becomes a knowledge sharing and learning platform among agricultural risk management practitioners and experts.

PARM Advisory Committee comprises of knowledge and cooperation partners, private sector, regional economic communities (RECs) and farmer organizations.