Natural disasters that struck developing countries over the past decade have caused at least 80 billion dollars' worth of damage to agriculture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on November 26. The estimate comes from a 53-page report, "The impact of disasters on agriculture and food security," covering the 2003-2013 period.
"These production losses correspond to 333 million tonnes of cereals, pulses, meat, milk and other commodities," shrinking the available calory intake for people in developing countries by an average of 7 percent after each disaster, FAO said.
Asia took the biggest hit in absolute terms, with 48 billion dollars' worth of losses, but worth only 2 per cent of total crop and livestock production. Africa suffered more in relative terms, with a 14-billion-dollar loss representing 6 per cent of the total.
The Rome-based agency noted that compared to the 1980s the average number of natural disasters had doubled during 2003-2013, and more than a third of developing countries had suffered three or more extreme weather events over the period.
The Philippines was cited as having experienced 75 disasters between 2006 and 2013 - mostly typhoons, tropical storms and floods - which caused accumulated damage and losses to the agricultural sector of 3.8 billion dollars.
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