Economic Damage Report of Flood in Agriculture, Policy Lessons and Approaches (Case study: Lorestan Province, Iran, in March 2019)

Flood is one of the natural disasters in the world that has direct and indirect effects on the agricultural sector. In this study, the economic impacts of the flood in Lorestan Province, Iran, in March 2019 were studied. Loretan consisted of Khrkheh catchment in the west and Dez catchment in the east. According to the results, the damages in Karkheh catchment were more than Dez one. Due to more precipitation (about 2.62 times) and fewer dams in operation, the potential for creating more floods in the Karkheh catchment is high. In general, the results showed that the economic damage to products was about three times greater than infrastructure. Among products, agriculture (44%), fishery (35%) and horticulture (17%) suffered the most damage. Damage to battery and livestock (65%) and fishery (25%) infrastructure was greater than the rest. According to the authors' observations, agricultural facilities and infrastructure along the rivers and the lack of post-flood management training were the most effective factors to increase economic damages. So, based on the authors' experiences from this flood, it is recommended to notice the following instructions after flooding, a) drain flood from the farms by digging channels, b) pest control and plant nutrition, c) mixing or removing sediment with/from the farms based on its thickness, d) repairing facilities like fishery, forage, livestock and pump stations and e) prevent the spread of livestock and poultry diseases and provide healthy fodder.