IMPACT OF DISASTER AND

CRISES ON AGRICULTURE
AND FOOD SECURITY
Submitted by: Noor ul ezzah
 The impact of disaster and crises on agriculture
Threats that agriculture is facing today mostly includes natural disasters
in a changing climate, food chain crises and complex protracted crises
including civil war.

Threats and crises

Natural hazard Conflicts and

Food chain crises
induced disaster protracted crises
Transboundary plant,
Geographical tsunamis, Civil unrest, regime
forest, zoonotic pests
droughts, wild fires change

Natural disaster and food chain crises:

The number of recorded natural disasters, along with their associate
impact on livelihood and economies at both local and national level is
increasing significantly.
Droughts can significantly stunt plant growth resulting in decline of
crop production as well as the quantity of both rainfed and irrigated
crops.
Floods can damage agriculture. Floods can make a field less suitable for
plantation and can ruin crops that have already been harvested.
Due to climate change, plant pests are becoming more and more
destructive for economically important crops and posing great threat to
food security.
There is limited information regarding the aftermath of disaster, food
chain crises and conflicts on agriculture largely due to fact that the data
is not recorded in a systematic way and do not share a common
method for estimating agricultural loss. Disaster risk reduction should
be integrated into national planning and people should be informed
about the risks in order to increase their resilience to accommodate
and recover from multiple hazards. Fao provides support to different
countries to mitigate the effects of natural disasters like floods, drought
and windstorm. In addition to this they are also aiming to achieve sdgs
and sendai framework to reduce economic loss from disasters.

Relative
damage and
loss from

disaster
83% of all damage
and loss caused by drought is
absorbed by agriculture.
Volcanic eruptions tsunamis and floods have a huge impact on
agricultural sector which leads to increased vulnerability of affected
communities.
Damage and loss in agriculture as a share of total damage:

Flood by far has the most disastrous impacts on agriculture and

drought has the most harmful impacts on livestock. Fisheries and
aquaculture are mostly affected by floods as well as storms. Storms also
affect forests due to impact of hurricane and cyclones.
Impacts of disasters on food security
Natural disasters threaten the stability of agricultural production,
provision of food and its accessibility and long-term food security
pushing food insecure farmers to overexploit common property
resources.

Impacts of disaster on natural resources and ecosystem

Depletion of natural resources increase vulnerability of farmers leading
to more harmful disasters. Desertification of ecosystem that surrounds
coastal areas such as mangroves increase the impact of natural
disasters. Droughts are the major cause water shortage and soil erosion
which eventually lead to irreversible stage of desertification. Floods can
cause water contamination which can degrade soil particularly in
cultivated areas. Tropical storms damage natural resources essential for
agricultural production.
Impacts of disaster on crop and livestock
Disasters can impact agriculture through reduced production which in
turn affects economy. Over the years, disasters have inflicted major loss
in crop and livestock production:
crops and livestock production loss per
disaster

storm
1%6%1% earthquakes
floods
crop pests

92%

loss from natural disasters in pacific

earthquakes
33%
drought
47% floods
storms

14%
6%
assessment framework:
In order to captivate the full impact of disaster on agriculture sector,
Fao distinguishes the two terms i.e., damage and loss. Damage includes
the value of stored inputs and outputs. The assets measure disaster
impact on facilities, machinery, tools and infrastructure related to
agriculture. The sendai framework offers the opportunity to scale up
drr efforts in agriculture. The monetary impact of typhoon Haiyan on

Philippines agriculture sector was calculated using fao’s methodology.

Damage and loss in crop sector:

By applying fao’s assessment methodology, crop damage and loss were
calculated for the zones most affected by rainfall shortages.

total livestock loss by region

15%
3% amhara Damage
29% oromia
SNNP and loss
Others
in
53%

livestock sector:
The challenges that drought poses to pastoralists extend well beyond
simple shortage of water and forage. In event of drought, the quality
and quantity of both fodder and forage can significantly deteriorate
causing abrupt changes in livestock feeding patterns and nutritional
status and they may succumb to death.
Strengths, challenges and limitations:
By applying fao’s methodology to assess damage and loss from two
polar opposite disaster, it can be concluded that the approaches
provide important and reliable support to drr policy and decision
making. Standardized damage and loss data collection, monitoring and
reporting processes should be established for both medium to large
scale disasters, as well as for recurrent, smaller scale events.
Impact of disaster on forest:
Meteorological events:
Storms, cyclones, winds hail, dust and sand storms can cause significant
loss. Severe weather events may also cause indirect damage to
standing trees, affecting their general vigor and making them
susceptible to secondary damage.
Geophysical:
Events such as tsunamis and earthquakes can cause enormous damage.
They can be significantly reduced by the presence of mangroves.
Anthropogenic events:
Such as fires, oil spills, air pollution are another serious types threat to
forest system.
Critical
requirements for
applying the Fao
methodology to
forestry:

Subregional
aggregations and conduct consistent analysis.
 Robust methods to assess environmental effects of disaster also
need to be developed.
 Quantity, consistency and clarity of existing dataset and
documentation should be available.
 A systematic process must be set in place to collect the data
required and further fine tune the methodology.
Food chain crises damage and loss:
The human food chain is under continuous threat from outbreaks such
as disease outbreaks with a negative impact on food security which
affects both humans and animals. Transboundary animal diseases are
highly contagious and can spread rapidly across territories resulting in
disease outbreak.
Link between natural disaster and animal disease:
Animal to animal transmission escalate when drought forces too many
animals to gather at water ponds. Floods increase the risk of vector
Climatic events and RVF outbreaks:
Rvf has repeatedly caused severe epidemics across African countries
and has recently expanded its range to Saudi Arabian Peninsula.
Rvf is transmitted by mosquitos while humans are more commonly
infected after exposure to infected animals. Environmental factors sch
as elevated temperatures in pacific and Indian oceans heavy rains,
humidity, vegetation mass all of which help trigger larger and more
vigorous mosquito populations.

The main negative effects on producers were caused by loss of animals

that died of Rvf, which in turn had impacts on food security and future
income.
Long term illness and disability resulting from Rvf infection impaired
farmers ability to resume their normal economic activities.
Conclusion:
Disasters exact a heavy toll on the agriculture sector in developing
countries as they often affect production, with cascading negative
consequences for national economies.
Informing agriculture DRR policy:
 Improving data building knowledge on disaster impacts on
agriculture.
 Giving a voice to silent disasters
 Strengthening capacity, building partnerships
 Streamlining damage and loss assessment efforts for better DRR
policy, improved resilience and higher investment in agriculture.