Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
36
University—COMET-farm, a whole farm and ranch greenhouse gas accounting system to help
farmers improve their management practices.102 The U.S. government has established several
regional hubs to support farmers in managing the effects of climate change through technical
support to help them manage droughts, floods, and other adverse situations.103
For social protection and the provision of safety nets for vulnerable groups, a lmost all European
and North American countries provide social protection for vulnerable groups . These include
food safety nets, farmer credit, and farmer insurance. A number of middle-income countries—
including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico—provide safety nets. In Brazil, the Zero Hunger
Program makes payments through debit cards to 14 million households. In Ethiopia, the
Productive Safety Nets Program supports 10 million rural people by providing cash or food in
return for work on infrastructure, such as irrigation and terracing systems. Innovative insurance
for farmers includesweather-index insurance, which provides automatic payments in the event
of certain weather conditions. Examples include the WFP and Oxfam America weather-index
insurance for drought, and the extreme rainfall insurance for fish ponds in Taiwan.104
Ireland has a number of initiatives tosupport farmers and low-income groups. Farmers received
subsidies for fodder imports in 2012-2013. The Agriculture Cash FlowSupport Loan Scheme in
201-201 gave farmers access to low-cost flexibleworking capital finance to compensate for the
impact of the Sterling exchange rate change and the lower commodity prices in some
agricultural sectors.105 Other programs include the Farm Assist Initiative—which provides
weekly payments to low income farmers—and the Rural Social Scheme—which provides
additional income to farmers and fishermen in return for an assigned number of hours working
on local community projects.106 Examples of initiatives supporting low-income groups access to
food include the Healthy Food for All and Community Food Initiatives. The Healthy Food for All
initiative, tackles food poverty, mainly among low-income groups by supporting local food
initiatives in schools and communities.107 The Community Food Initiatives seeks to improve the
eating habits of families in low-income communities through better access to affordable and
healthy food at a local level.108
The U.S. also provides robust safety nets to support vulnerable groups. The U.S. government
funds 15 domestic food and nutrition programs that target the most vulnerable households.109
Examples of these programs include the SupplementaryNutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
which provides low-income households with monthly benefits to purchase food at authorized
retailers; the National School Lunch Program, which provides students from low-income
households with meals at low cost or free; and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program,
which supplies vouchers to women, infants, and children for food packages from authorized
stores. The U.S. support to farmers includes extensive insurance programs, such as the Federal
102 COMET-Farmwebsite. USDA. Retrieved fro
103 USDA. Climate Solutions.. Retrieved fro
104 The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2018). Global Food Security Index 2018: Building Resilience in the Face of Rising Food-
Security Risks. Retrieved fro
105 Safefood. (2017). The impact of climate change on dairy production. Retrieved from
106 DFAM. (2018). Annual Review and Outlook for Agriculture, Foodand theMarine 2018. Retrieved from
107 Department of Employment Affairs and Social Welfare website.
108 Safefood website..
109 AFBF. (2018, April 12). Congressional Budget Office Updates FarmBill Math. Retrieved from