Agriculture is one of the most highly exposed and vulnerable sectors in the context of disaster risk, given its profound dependence on natural resources and climate conditions. Recurrent disasters have the potential to erode gains in food security and undermine the sustainability of agrifood systems. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes a biennial report that puts numbers on the losses that disasters – ever more frequent and intense in recent years – have produced in global agriculture. It also outlines strategies to reduce disaster-related risk in the sector. The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2023 The report estimates losses caused by disasters on agricultural production over the past three decades and delves into the diverse threats and impacts affecting the crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries and aquaculture subsectors. It analyzes the complex interplay of underlying risks, such as climate change, pandemics, epidemics and armed conflicts, and how they drive disaster risk in agriculture and agrifood systems at large. Over the last three decades, disasters – defined as serious disruptions to the functioning of a community or society – inflicted the highest relative losses on lower and lower middle-income countries, up to 15 percent of their total agricultural GDP. Disasters also had a significant impact on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), causing them to lose nearly 7 percent of their agricultural GDP. Losses by product groups The report also indicates that losses related to major agricultural products are showing increasing trends. Thus, losses in cereals amounted to an average of 69 million tonnes per year in the last three decades, followed by fruits and vegetables and sugar crops, with each approaching average losses of 40 million tonnes per year. Meats, dairy products and eggs showed an average estimated loss of 16 million tonnes per year. Regional differences Global losses mask significant variability across regions, subregions and country groups. According to the report, Asia experienced by far the largest share of the total economic losses. Africa, Europe and the Americas also displayed a similar order of magnitude. However, losses in Asia only accounted for 4 percent of the agricultural added value, while in Africa they corresponded to nearly 8 percent. The variability was even higher across subregions. In absolute terms, losses were higher in high-income countries, lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries, but low-income countries, and especially SIDS, suffered the highest incidence of losses in agricultural added value. Cascading impacts of disasters Disaster events have increased from 100 per year in the 1970s to around 400 events per year worldwide in the past 20 years. Not only are disaster events increasing in frequency, intensity and complexity but their impact is also expected to worsen, as climate-induced disasters amplify existing social and ecological vulnerabilities. The report highlights that, when hazards manifest, they can produce cascading impacts across multiple systems and sectors. Underlying disaster risk drivers include climate change, poverty and inequality, population growth, health emergencies caused by pandemics, practices such as unsustainable land use and management, armed conflicts and environmental degradation. The amount of loss and damage produced by a disaster depends on the speed and spatial scale at which a hazard interacts with vulnerability and other preexisting risk factors, along with the amount of exposed assets or livelihoods. In extreme cases, disasters result in the displacement and outward migration of rural populations. Towards greater resilience of agrifood systems Farmers, particularly smallholders farming under rain-fed conditions, are the most vulnerable actors in the agrifood systems and bear the brunt of disaster impacts. Supporting the adoption of farm-level disaster risk reduction good practices can help small-scale farmers to avoid losses and enhance their resilience. Investment in farm-level disaster risk reduction good practices can perform on average 2.2 times better than previously applied practices. Proactive and timely interventions in response to forecasted hazards are crucial to build resilience by preventing and reducing risks in agriculture. For instance, anticipatory action undertaken in several countries demonstrated favourable benefit to cost ratios for investing in disaster prevention and resilience. The report shows that, for every $1 invested in anticipatory action, rural families can gain up to $7 in benefits and avoided agricultural losses. The report outlines three key priorities for action: improving data and information on the impacts of disasters on all subsectors of agriculture – crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry; developing and mainstreaming multisectoral and multi-hazard disaster risk reduction approaches into policy and programming at all levels; and enhancing investments in resilience that provide benefits in reducing disaster risk in agriculture and improve agricultural production and livelihoods. Full report - The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2023 Source : FAO