Drought Causing Highest Losses in Agri among All Disasters, Report

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.

Read more from the FAO report.