TALLINN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) ministers for agriculture and fisheries agreed here Tuesday on the need to revise the crisis reserve system with respect to farmers, and implement the system faster and more flexibly.
The main topic of the informal meeting of EU ministers was to empowering farmers with effective tools to manage risks post-2020.
The ministers came to the conclusion that the EU's current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was not prepared enough for times of crisis and that farmers should not be left alone to deal with risk management.
The CAP needs to offer farmers tools that will improve their readiness for crisis times and increase their competition in open market conditions, according to Estonian Minister for Rural Affairs Tarmo Tamm.
Risk management measures have to take the specifics of different member states into consideration, said the ministers, who also agreed that direct support had an important role in securing stable incomes in the agricultural sector.
Delegations from 28 member states, and representatives of the European Commission, European Parliament, the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU were among the participants of the three-day informal meeting that ended Tuesday.
