The World Bank has synthesized its experiences conducting risk assessments and has developed the Technical Training Program “Agriculture Sector Risk Assessment” to allow practitioners around the world to apply this methodology and integrate it in general agricultural policy work. The training program was originally introduced as a two-day training in Johannesburg, South Africa, in May 2015. The program includes core principles for assessing agricultural risks, as well as current state-of-the-art practices in risk assessment and management.
Åsa Giertz has led risk management work in Africa, Asia, and Central Asia, and support countries in identifying systemic risks and risk management mechanisms for their agriculture sectors.
Ms. Giertz has worked with agricultural development in the World Bank for the past nine years in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Central and South Asia regions. Her main focus is agricultural policy and she has contributed to numerous World Bank publications, including the 2013 flagship report Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential for Agribusiness, as well as supported a wide range of World Bank-financed investment projects.
Before joining the World Bank, Ms. Giertz worked for two years for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unite Nations (FAO) in Rome, and before that for the Swedish Private Sector and for the Swedish Ministry of the Environment. Ms. Giertz has a M.Sc. in Macro and Development Economics from the Stockholm University and a M.Sc. in Food and Nutrition Policy from City University London.
The World Bank, through its Agricultural Risk Management Team, has developed a methodology for assessing risk and subsequently conducted risk assessments in nearly 20 countries. The World Bank has synthesized its experience and developed a technical training program on agricultural sector risk assessment to allow practitioners around the world to apply this methodology and integrate it into general agricultural policy work. The program was originally introduced as a two-day training in Johannesburg, South Africa, in May 2015.
The program includes core principles for assessing agricultural risks, as well as current state-of-the-art practices in risk assessment and management. The hope is that development practitioners will acquire the skillset to better analyze the agricultural sector, the tools for qualitative and quantitative assessment and for prioritizing mechanisms, and the ability to understand and manage risk more systematically and strategically.
This technical training is geared towards policymakers and development practitioners who are involved in designing and implementing agricultural programs and policies. In particular, technical staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning who are engaged in agricultural policy, planning, management, and monitoring might especially benefit from this training.
The prevalence and complexity of multiple risks facing agriculture systems and the failure to address them on an ex-ante and integrated basis continue to leave countries and their agricultural sector exposed to these risks. The apparent increase in the frequency of commodity price volatility and crop failures, added to concerns over climate change and food security, has increased global interest in agricultural risk management. Considering that governments, especially in lower-income and agricultural dependent countries, are vulnerable to agricultural risks, there is a clear need to better understand and assess these risks and associated vulnerabilities. By knowing the frequency and impacts of existing risks to the sector, the private and public sectors can better manage these risks and limit their impacts.