Building the resilience of Italy’s agricultural sector to drought
Increasingly frequent and severe droughts are threatening Italy’s agricultural sector.
With climate change forecast to accelerate these trends, the sector must build long-term
resilience. This will require better planning and preparing for, absorbing the impact
of, and recovering from droughts, as well as more successfully adapting and transforming
in response to these events. Recent positive developments include improved data collection
on water supplies and agricultural damage and loss from natural hazards to better
inform water management and investment decisions; strengthened commitment to ex ante
risk management frameworks; and more participatory approaches for water management.
Nevertheless, the agricultural policy portfolio currently underemphasises investments
in on-farm preparedness and adaptation, in favour of coping tools such as insurance.
Further efforts to build agricultural resilience could benefit from a holistic, long-term
sectoral risk management strategy; an evaluation of the trade-offs between spending
on risk coping tools versus investments in natural hazard preparedness and measures
to mitigate their impacts; and more explicit consideration of farmer demographics
and capacities in policy design.
Published on June 01, 2021Also available in: Italian
In series:OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papersview more titles