Strengthening early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, and innovative farming practices are essential to reduce risk and promote sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.
Natural hazards like cyclones, floods, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves are becoming more frequent and severe worldwide. While developed countries like the United States and Spain have suffered greatly, developing nations face even worse consequences, especially in terms of lost lives and livelihoods.
Despite some progress in disaster risk management, vulnerable groups, such as women, children, and marginalized communities remain inadequately protected.
Asia and the Pacific remains a global hotspot for disaster risk, as reflected in the 2024 World Risk Index, which identifies that eight of the 16 highest-risk countries are within this region.
About 80% of the world’s 734 million extremely poor live in rural areas in Asia and the Pacific, of which 76% depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, meanwhile, the agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards.
Weather extremes coupled with inadequate land use planning can lead to crop failures, livestock losses, and disruptions in fisheries. These impacts result in reduced agricultural yields, economic instability, food shortages, and price surges. They underscore the critical importance of strengthening disaster resilience in the agriculture sector to safeguard livelihoods and ensure food security in hazard-prone regions.
Despite these vulnerabilities, agriculture was a lifeline for many developing economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting food security, providing employment, stabilizing economies, and reducing poverty. The sector’s resilience helped maintain food production and jobs when other economic activities were severely disrupted.
To both tackle vulnerability and promote the resilience of the agricultural sector, developing countries in Asia and the Pacific must prioritize investments in many areas.
A key step involves strengthening early warning to mitigate disaster impacts and support timely response, particularly for rural communities whose livelihoods are most vulnerable to disasters.
These investments include ensuring that accurate and timely weather forecasts are translated into impact-based forecasts and warnings so farming households and communities can take prompt action. Real-time monitoring and communication systems must also be established to provide farmers with disaster alerts, irrigation scheduling, and adaptive advice, while building local capacity to enable communities to act in an anticipatory fashion to impending hazards.
Promoting agricultural resilience through the development and adoption of crops and practices that can endure extreme weather conditions is another essential strategy. Depending on the hazard context, this can mean focusing on drought-tolerant, flood-resistant, and saline-tolerant crop varieties. Additionally, supporting sustainable farming methods—such as conservation agriculture, crop diversification, and agroforestry—helps enhance ecosystem resilience. Integrating smart technologies like precision farming and remote sensing can further optimize resource use and improve decision-making.
Prioritizing investments in resilient infrastructure is also vital to safeguarding agricultural systems. This includes constructing and upgrading irrigation systems designed for water efficiency and resistance to flooding. Complementary efforts involve developing robust storage and transportation facilities to enable early harvesting and minimize post-harvest losses during disasters, as well as enhancing rural road networks to ensure connectivity and accessibility before, during, and after natural hazards.
Equally important is developing financial tools to reduce farmers’ vulnerability to shocks and safeguard their livelihoods. A core focus lies in expanding access to agricultural insurance for crops, livestock, and farm assets to protect against losses triggered by natural hazards. This may involve promoting risk-sharing mechanisms through public-private partnerships to distribute the burden of disaster impacts.
Empowering farmers with the knowledge and skills to adopt adaptive and sustainable practices is another cornerstone of resilience. This includes providing training in resilient farming techniques, resilient irrigation technologies, and resource management strategies. Facilitating peer-to-peer learning through farmer field schools and demonstration plots, coupled with strengthening agricultural extension services via digital tools, can further broaden the reach of these innovations.
Enhancing governance frameworks and integrating disaster risk reduction into agricultural policies, planning, and budget allocation mechanisms also boost overall resilience. Strengthening land-use planning and enforcement is crucial to minimize exposure to disaster risks, while inclusive governance structures ensure active participation by women, smallholder farmers, and marginalized groups in decision-making processes.
Public-private partnerships can mobilize resources and foster innovation, leveraging private sector expertise and funding to bring innovative agricultural technologies and develop value chains that connect farmers with markets and agribusinesses. This collaboration also enables the co-development of resilient infrastructure with private partners.
Private investment can play a crucial role in scaling agricultural solutions and financial products, such as weather index insurance to protect farmers from potential losses. In addition, agribusiness investment in sustainable supply chains and environmentally friendly practices can further enhance resilience and long-term sustainability.
As the vulnerability of the agricultural sector and livelihoods becomes increasingly evident in the face of weather extremes in Asia and the Pacific, there is an urgent need to act. The rising frequency of these natural hazards demands bold investments in resilient agricultural systems that can withstand future shocks.
Imagine a future where farmers thrive despite adversity, food security is ensured, rural economies are revitalized, and ecosystems are preserved. Every step taken today toward building agricultural resilience is a step toward securing inclusive and sustainable development prospects for Asia and the Pacific.
Source: blogs.adb.org
