Damage to agriculture from storm-related disasters must be reduced

Citing the need to reduce the impact of storm-related disasters on agriculture, FAO has proposed a disaster management strategy, a statement by the Rome-based agency said. Storm-related disasters have increased in frequency and intensity during the past decade. In tropical areas, the devastation caused by hurricanes rose dramatically during the 1990s, due in part to the increased population living in storm-prone areas, a FAO report said on Monday. “The economic cost of damage to crops and infrastructure from floods in Central America in 1998 was estimated at US $8.5 billion and that in Mozambique (February-March 2000) at US $1 billion, reflecting a substantial dent in the GDP of the countries affected,” the report indicated. Each vulnerable country or region needs a strategy that incorporates long-term measures to reduce vulnerability to storm-related disasters. Measures should be integrated in the overall development program of the country, and in particular for storm and flood-prone areas. In addition, the strategy should include an early-warning and storm-forecasting system and a preparedness plan for relief and rehabilitation. “A long-term development programme for reducing agricultural vulnerability to storm-related disasters should be developed on the basis of land-use evaluations, vulnerability and risk assessments, inventory of traditional community land-management practices and local coping strategies, as well as an assessment and identification of crop, livestock, fisheries and forestry practices and farming systems suitable for vulnerable areas,” the report said