Setting up

On October 11, 2021, the Malagasy government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAE) submitted a request to IFAD to mobilize PARM technical assistance to support Madagascar in its strategy to strengthen the resilience of the Agro-Sylvo-Pastoral and Fishery sector to agricultural risks, which are becoming more frequent and severe.

To this end, in January 2022, IFAD-PARM welcomed this interest and announced the approval of PARM’s donors to provide technical assistance to the country.

In February 2022,  PARM Secretariat and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock agreed on on roadmap process for PARM interventions in Madagascar. In April 2022, PARM and MINAE signed an Aide-Mémoire outlining the main interventions of PARM’s assistance to the Malagasy government, as follows

A first phase on the analysis and assessment and characterisation of agricultural risks, through a study based on the holistic methodology developed by PARM, either of the Malagasy agricultural sector, of one (or more) value chain, or on a geographical area (to be determined with MINAE). This first phase should be based on the validated agricultural risk profile and be complementary to other studies, notably on the analysis and evaluation of agricultural risks;

• A second phase on the identification of ARM tools in response to the priority risks identified in the previous phase;
• A third phase on knowledge sharing, capacity building and skills of key ARM actors;
• A fourth phase, which is the final goal of the previous steps, consists of the development and conceptualisation of concrete and fundable ARM projects and programmes (or the strengthening of existing ones), to be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and the mobilisation of donors for the implementation of the designed projects and programmes.

Risk Assessment

Jointly with MINAE, PARM elaborated the terms of reference for the risk assessment study (RAS)

that aims to contribute to the creation of a detailed inventory and assessment of agricultural risks in the country, and to provide information on their likelihood and effects on the economy and agriculture. Unlikely to other PARM countries, the RAS study will use a value chain approach to rigorously assess and prioritise the major risks affecting actors along the agricultural value chain (using a gender and age approach) and to identify actionable elements of an integrated risk management strategy for the value chain, using a gender lens along the chain.

Using IFAD procurement procedures and processes, PARM has launched the tender to get a service provider for the RAS study in Madagascar