On 03 July 2023, the Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM), hosted by IFAD, discussed the importance of Agricultural Risk Management (ARM) with a value chain perspective and introduced the institutionalization of ARM, during the first capacity development workshop co-organized with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Maritime Fisheries (MARHP) and held in Tunis.

The workshop was enriched by the active contribution of 52 participants, among which 26 women, from a significant group of universities, training centers, farmers organizations, buyers, microfinance institutions, agribusiness enterprises, insurance companies, donors and government entities. Discussions navigated around the necessity to increase young smallholders empowerment as aging farmers constitute a major risk and on the implementation of organic practices to turn them into a tool to address agricultural risks. The MARHP recommended PARM to focus the Agricultural Value Chain Risk Assessment Study (AVC-RAS) on cereal and olive oil value chains.

This consideration paved the way for the in-depth AVC-RAS, already planned in the PARM process, which will be carried out in 2023 to inform the investment plan which will be co-developed with the MARHP and submitted to multilateral, public and private investors.

During the workshop, PARM also engaged participants in the institutionalization process (INST) of ARM. INST involves integrating ARM into university curricula and private sector practices, with the aim of transferring ARM knowledge to their learners/members/customers. A session on gender in ARM was also held with PARM Senior Gender Specialist attending the meeting online.

The second cycle of PARM capacity development will be held in 2024 and will consist in a 5-day training of trainers.