Rome: Disasters have inflicted an estimated $3.26 trillion in agricultural losses worldwide over the past 33 years, averaging $99 billion annually, which constitutes roughly 4% of global agricultural GDP.
According to Emirates News Agency, the report titled “The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2025” highlights the transformative role of digital technologies in enabling farmers, governments, and communities to monitor risks, anticipate impacts, and safeguard livelihoods. This document provides the most comprehensive global assessment to date of how disasters, ranging from droughts and floods to pests and marine heatwaves, are disrupting food production, livelihoods, and nutrition. It also illustrates how digital innovations are shifting agrifood systems from reactive crisis management to proactive data-driven resilience-building.
The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, noted in the foreword to the report that digital technologies are already revolutionizing risk monitoring, early warning delivery, and farmers’ decision-making support. He highlighted examples such as the 9.1 million farmers who now access parametric insurance through digital platforms and communities using FAO’s early warning systems to evacuate 90% of at-risk populations before disasters strike, underscoring a shift from reactive response to proactive risk reduction.
Between 1991 and 2023, disasters eliminated 4.6 billion tonnes of cereals, 2.8 billion tonnes of fruits and vegetables, and 900 million tonnes of meat and dairy. These losses equate to a daily per capita reduction of 320 kilocalories, representing 13-16% of average energy needs.
Asia accounts for the largest share of global losses at 47%, totaling $1.53 trillion. This reflects both the scale of agricultural production and the region’s high exposure to floods, storms, and droughts. The Americas represent 22% of global losses, amounting to $713 billion, influenced by recurrent droughts, hurricanes, and extreme temperature events that heavily impact large commodity crop systems.
Africa, while recording lower absolute losses of $611 billion, suffers the highest proportional impacts, losing 7.4% of agricultural GDP to disasters, the largest relative burden of any region. In economies where agriculture is a significant source of employment and income, these losses have severely affected food security and rural stability.
The report also identifies that marine heatwaves caused $6.6 billion in losses between 1985 and 2022, affecting 15% of global fisheries. Despite supporting the livelihoods of 500 million people, losses in fisheries and aquaculture remain largely invisible in disaster assessments.