Building the resilience of New Zealand’s agricultural sector to floods
New Zealand’s agricultural sector faces the challenge of building long-term resilience
to floods, which are projected to increase due to climate change. The New Zealand
agricultural sector receives minimal government support and the policy environment
focuses on providing an enabling environment for farmers to build their own resilience
capacities, while the government has a more direct, but limited, role during disaster
response and recovery. Key good practices include an ex ante framework to discipline
ex post assistance to agriculture; incentives for industry groups to develop support
resources for farmers; and an emphasis on mental wellbeing following a crisis. Nevertheless,
further efforts to strengthen resilience could benefit from: (i) improved data collection
to support targeted investments in risk prevention and mitigation; (ii) increased
public-private collaboration to develop and diffuse effective solutions for adapting
to and mitigating the risks of natural hazard-induced disasters on farms, including
by leveraging the renewed engagement on extension services; and (iii) greater commitment
to ensuring preparedness and response capacities in rural regions.
Published on June 01, 2021
In series:OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papersview more titles