Managing extreme agriculture risks in BRAZIL

Abstract

The agricultural sector is strategic for Brazil’s economy and society. Nevertheless, the fluctuation in national agriculture GDP, which reaches 1% per year on average, and can reach more than 3% in some cases, indicates the weakness of disaster risk management in the sector. This study identified that Brazil has some successful public policies and programs dedicated for disaster risk management in the agriculture sector that serve as reference for other developing countries. However, they are mainly focused on risk mitigation. Disaster risk response and transfer mechanisms for agriculture, especially insurance, are still underdeveloped in relation to other similar emerging economies such as Argentina and Mexico. Furthermore, this study points out to the importance of managing extreme agriculture risks in an integrated fashion, as there are clear interrelationships among the main risks facing the agriculture sector of Brazil. Finally, the results of this study also strongly suggest that there is a lack of integration of existing federal-level public policies and programs dedicated to agricultural disaster risk management in Brazil, which constraints the reduction of systemic losses at the national level.