Dhaka: Nearly a quarter of damages wrought by natural disasters on the developing world, including Bangladesh, are borne by agricultural sector, according to initial results of a new study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The study was released on Tuesday at the UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan, said a FAO media release.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also announced the launch of a special facility aimed at helping countries better equip their food production sectors to reduce risk exposure, limit impacts, and be better prepared to cope with disasters.

Twenty-two percent of all damages inflicted by natural hazards such as drought, flood storms or tsunamis are registered within the agriculture sector, FAO’s analysis of 78 post-disaster needs assessments in 48 developing countries spanning the 2003-2013 period shows.

These damages and losses are often incurred by poor rural and semi-rural communities without insurance and lacking the financial resources needed to regain lost livelihoods. Yet only 4.5 percent of post-disaster humanitarian aid in the 2003-2013 period targeted agriculture, the study reveals.

FAO’s 22 percent figure represents only damages reported via post-disaster risk assessments, so while indicative of scale, the actual impact is likely even higher. To arrive at a closer estimate of the true financial cost of disasters to developing world agriculture FAO compared decreases in yields during and after disasters with yield trends in 67 countries affected by (at least one) medium- to larger-scale events between 2003 and 2013.

The final tally: US$ 70 billion in damages to crops and livestock over that 10 year period.

Asia was the most affected region, with estimated losses adding up to US$ 28 billion, followed by Africa at US$ 26 billion.

‘Agriculture and all that it encompasses is not only critical for our food supply, it also remains a main source of livelihoods across the planet. While it is a sector at risk, agriculture also can be the foundation upon which we build societies that are more resilient and better equipped to deal with disasters,’ said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

‘This is why building resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises is one of FAO’s top priorities,’ he added.