Agriculture is the art and business of cultivating soil, producing crops and raising livestock. According to a World Bank report in 2005, stated that about two thirds of the world population are mainly concentrated in rural areas, which are predominantly agriculture-oriented areas. Therefore in respect to poverty eradication and raising the welfare standards of the population; more focus should be put on agricultural activities.
Now let’s look at the most recent report from United Nations
Article By: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Available data shows us that an increased occurrence and intensity of disasters is the new normal.
Within the first few months of 2020, huge swarms of desert locusts began ravaging countries across the Greater Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southwest Asia – just one more hit to farmers already impacted by floods, cyclones, hailstorms, animal diseases, droughts, and other shocks.
By its end, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season produced 30 named systems, far surpassing the usual 12-storm annual average.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating lives, livelihoods, and economies the world over.
Agriculture and the billions of farmers who keep the rest of us fed bear the brunt of such shocks – more than any other productive sector. Disasters take lives, but also devastate rural livelihoods, destroy food, and drive up hunger.
What economic and nutritional impacts do such disasters have on the agricultural sector? What can we do to build agricultural systems that are resilient to disasters, diseases, and climate change?
Let’s take a closer look.
Disasters and their economic impact
One of the most direct ways disasters affect agriculture is through lower-than-expected production. This causes direct economic loss to farmers which can cascade along the entire value chain – even affecting the growth of the sector or entire national economies.
From 2008–2018, billions of dollars were lost as a result of declines in crop and livestock production in the aftermath of disasters.
- USD 30 billion was lost in sub-Saharan and North Africa
- USD 29 billion was lost in Latin America and the Caribbean
- USD 8.7 billion was lost across the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean
- USD 49 billion was lost in Asia
Which disasters strike with the greatest impact and where?
Effective Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policies can help to counter the economic and food security impacts of disasters as well as safeguard people’s livelihoods. But creating and implementing effective policies involves knowing which disasters strike with the greatest impact and where.
Here are the top five most impactful disasters (in terms of their toll on agricultural production systems) to strike least developed countries (LDCs) and low to middle income countries (LMICs) from 2008-2018.
Drought
Drought has been established as the single greatest culprit of agricultural production loss. Over 34 percent of crop and livestock production loss in LDCs and LMICs is traced to drought, costing the sector USD 37 billion overall.
Drought impacts agriculture almost exclusively; it sustains 82 percent of all drought impact, compared to 18 percent in all other sectors.
Floods
Floods are the second gravest disaster for the sector, responsible for the total of USD 21 billion of the crop and livestock production loss accrued between 2008-2018 in LCDs and LMICs – this amounts to 19 percent of total loss.
Storms
Storms are nearly as destructive as floods for the agriculture sector. This is particularly due to the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, which was the costliest and most hyperactive tropical cyclone season on record.
Between 2008–2018, extreme storms such as tropical hurricanes have caused more than USD 19 billion in crop and livestock production loss accounting for over 18 percent of overall loss.
Crop and livestock pests, diseases and infestations
Crop and livestock pests, diseases and infestations are an important stressor for the sector. Such biological disasters caused 9 percent of all crop and livestock production loss in the period from 2008 to 2018.
The 2020 desert locust crisis in East Africa will likely exacerbate the role of biological disasters in production disruption, as the region braces itself for significantly reduced crop harvests and major pasture loss in arid and semi-arid regions.
Wildfires
Wildfires appear to be less impactful to agricultural production systems, responsible for just over USD 1 billion or 1 percent of loss.
This accounts for only the damage caused to crop and livestock production, it does not incorporate loss incurred in the forestry sector, in terms of timber and other systems. The impact of ravaging wildfires scorching through millions of acres across California (2017), Greece (2018), the Amazon (2019), and Australia (2019/2020), to name a few, is likely to be enormous.
Disasters can affect our nutrition too
We’ve seen how disasters can impact agriculture on a food production and economic level. Yet, the fallout from disasters and extreme events are more extensive and complex than the impacts on productivity alone. Disaster-related production losses can translate into significant – and negative – nutritional outcomes including foregone calories and nutrients.
Here’s how many calories and nutrients were potentially lost following disasters.
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