A new study released by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) at the UN world conference on disaster risk reduction, states that 22 percent of damages wrought by natural disasters on the developing world are borne by the agricultural sector.
Globally, the livelihoods of 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture. These small-scale farmers, herders, fishers and forest-dependent communities generate more than half of global agricultural production and are particularly at risk from disasters that destroy or damage harvests, equipment, supplies, livestock, seeds, crops and stored food.
“Twenty-two percent of all damages inflicted by natural hazards such as drought, floods storms or tsunamis are registered within the agriculture sector, FAO’s analysis of 78 post-disaster needs assessments in 48 developing countries spanning the 2003-2013 period shows,” the report said.
According to the report, these damages and losses are often incurred by poor rural and semi-rural communities without insurance and lacking the financial resources needed to regain loss livelihoods. The post disaster humanitarian aid between 2003 and 2013 period have been only 4.5 percent for the agricultural sector.
To arrive at a closer estimate of the true financial cost of disasters to developing world agriculture, FAO compared decreases in yields during and after disasters with yield trends in 67 countries affected by (at least one) medium- to larger-scale events between 2003 and 2013.
The estimate shows that $70 billion in damages to crops and livestock over the 10 year period. Asia was the most affected region, with estimated losses adding up to $28 billion, followed by Africa at $26 billion.
In Africa, between 2003 and 2013 there were 61 drought years in Sub-Saharan Africa affecting 27 countries and 150 million people.
“Agriculture and all that it encompasses is not only critical for our food supply, it also remains a main source of livelihoods across the planet.
While it is a sector at risk, agriculture also can be the foundation upon which we build societies that are more resilient and better equipped to deal with disasters,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.
“This is why building resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises is one of FAO’s top priorities,” he added.
FAO found that 82 percent of production losses were caused by droughts and floods, with 77 percent of all agricultural production losses worldwide due to drought occurring in 27 sub-Saharan countries and costing those economies $23.5bn
After natural disasters, trade flows were also jolted, the study said, noting an increase of $18.9bn in agricultural imports, and a decrease of $14.9bn in exports after natural disasters in the countries it surveyed.
“Beyond the obvious consequences on peoples’ food security, the economies and development trajectories of entire regions and nations can be altered when disasters hit agriculture,’’ stated the report.
Agricultural sector accounts for as much as 30 percent of national GDP in countries like Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, and the Niger, among others.
JOSEPHINE OKOJIE
