Arab countries are losing farmland at an alarming rate, with over 46 million hectares already damaged and the destruction spreading, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This represents two-thirds of all degraded agricultural land in the region, caused mainly by overuse of fertilizers and pesticides plus irrigation systems that leave harmful salt deposits in the soil. With nearly all the world’s food depending on healthy land, this crisis threatens food security for millions of people. Climate change is making things worse through more frequent dust storms and increasing water shortages.
The global picture shows how widespread this problem has become. Human activities have degraded 1.66 billion hectares worldwide, with more than half affecting farmland and pastures where people grow crops and raise animals. Arab countries face extra challenges because the region was already hot and dry before climate change brought higher temperatures, more dust storms, and even less water.
What’s particularly concerning is how little restoration work is happening. Less than 4% of land in the Arab region is being restored, falling far short of international targets. The study found that restoring just 26 million hectares of damaged cropland could cut yield gaps in half for oil crops and help other plants reach their full potential.
The FAO is pushing for Arab countries to join forces on a big restoration project to save their farmland, boost food security, and help farming communities survive. This follows promises made at a desert conference in Riyadh last December, where governments said they’d try new ways to stop their land from turning into wasteland.
The choice is pretty stark: countries can start using smarter farming methods to fix and protect their soil, or they can watch more farmland disappear right when they need to feed growing populations.
