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Africa lost $611B in farm output to disasters since 1991, FAO reports
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West Africa hit hardest, losing 13.4% of agricultural GDP to climate shocks
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FAO urges digital tools to boost resilience, citing successful aid examples
Africa lost an estimated $611 billion in agricultural production between 1991 and 2023 due to natural disasters and climate hazards, according to a report released on Friday, November 14 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The report, titled The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2025 – Digital Solutions to Reduce Risks and Impacts, estimates that these losses amount to 7.4% of the region’s agricultural GDP, the highest share of any region worldwide.
Globally, total losses over the three-decade period reached $3.8 trillion, or 4% of the world’s agricultural GDP. Asia recorded the largest value loss at $1.53 trillion. By comparison, the Americas lost the equivalent of 5.2% of their agricultural GDP, Oceania 4.2%, and Europe 3.6%.
Cereals and fruits, and vegetables were the hardest-hit commodities worldwide, with 4.6 billion tons and 2.8 billion tons lost, respectively. Floods, storms, droughts, and extreme temperatures were identified as the most destructive hazards.
West Africa: World’s Most Vulnerable Subregion
While Africa bears the heaviest burden in relative terms, the impact varies sharply across the continent. West Africa is the most vulnerable subregion globally, with losses equivalent to a striking 13.4% of its agricultural GDP.
According to the FAO, this figure is an exceptionally heavy economic burden, reflecting both the subregion’s high exposure to climate disasters and its limited adaptive capacity.
Southern Africa follows with a 7.6% loss, and East Africa with 5.8%. The FAO cited the unprecedented drought linked to the 2023 El Niño episode, which affected more than 20 million people in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. It also highlighted the multi-year drought in the Horn of Africa at the start of 2023, which impacted more than 36 million people and caused the death of over 13 million livestock in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. North Africa was the least affected zone, with losses below 2% of agricultural GDP.
Digital Tools for Resilience
Given the scale of economic damage from disasters over the past three decades and the rising climate threat, the FAO emphasizes that digital technologies are critical for reducing risks and increasing the resilience of agri-food systems.
Tools such as artificial intelligence, drones, and sensors provide access to integrated, real-time, actionable information. This improves early warning systems, supports better decision-making, and enables the rapid, large-scale rollout of risk-transfer mechanisms.
The report cites several cases where digital systems have already played a decisive role. It also noted that social protection schemes are increasingly relying on digital delivery mechanisms for disaster-related interventions. It added that Kenya’s M-Pesa system enabled the transfer of $7 million in aid to 1.1 million beneficiaries during the 2017 drought, while Malawi’s cash social transfer program supported 74,000 households in 2022.
Espoir Olodo