Natural disasters are causing agricultural losses amounting to billions of
dollars every year, with drought as the most destructive threat. This is
according to the report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO).

The FAO report titled The Impact of Disasters and Crises on Agriculture and
Food Security, natural disasters, including drought, floods, forest fires,
storms, plant pests, animal disease outbreaks, chemical spills, and toxic
algal blooms, have cost developing countries US$96 billion losses from 2005
to 2015. About 50 percent of the damages (US$48 billion worth) occurred in
Asia. Drought was also found to be the leading threat among all the natural
disasters. Around 80 percent of the economic losses caused by drought were
absorbed by agriculture, amounting to US$29 billion losses.



www.fao.org/3/I8656EN/i8656en.pdf