Table 4.4 Land with crop production potential, land-in-use and land balances, developing countries (excluding China) (million ha)

 

Dry semi- and (AT1)

Moist semi- and (AT2)

Sub- humid (AT3)

Humid (AT4)

Marginal moist humid, humid semi-arid sub- (AT5)

Fluvi- sols/ gleysols (AT6)

Marginal fluvisols/gleysols (AT7)

Total land with crop production potential

Sum A1-A7

Total incl. irrig. and land

Total of com- parable quality†
Total % of land area Ha per caput Total Ha per caput
Sub-Saharan Africa
Land with crop production potential 89.0 179.0 294.1 171.1   155.2 104.5   15.4 1008 1009 46      
Land-in-use 1988/90 42.9 43.8 59.5   57.6*     7.9*   212 213   0.45 160 0.34
Balance 1988/90 46.1 135.2 234.7   268.7     111.9   797 797   1.69    
Land-in-use 2010 46.8 52.2 70.2   73.5     11.2   254 255   0.28 194 0.21
Balance 2010 42.2 126.7 223.9   252.9     108.7   754 754   0.83    
Near East/North Africa
Land with crop production potential 18.6 21.5 17.1 0.2   9.6 9.7   0.8 78 92 8      
Land-in-use 1988/90 14.7 17.5 14.9   9.6     4.9   62 77   0.26 83 0.28
Balance 1988/90 4.0 4.0 2.2   0.1     5.6   16 16   0.05    
Land-in-use 2010 15.9 18.6 15.3   9.6     4.9   64 81   0.16 90 0.18
Balance 2010 2.7 2.9 1.8   0.2     5.6   13 13   0.03    
East Asia (excl. China)
Land with crop production potential 1.2 7.7 48.8 38.0   53.0 31.5   4.1 184 184 39      
Land-in-use 1988/90 0.0 2.5 20.5   45.0     19.6   88 88   0.18 90 0.18
Balance 1988/90 1.1 5.3 28.2   46.0     16.1   97 97   0.19    
Land-in-use 2010 0.0 3.0 25.1   52.8     21.8   103 103   0.15 104 0.15
Balance 2010 1.1 4.7 23.7   38.2     13.8   82 82   0.12    
South Asia
Land with crop production potential 29.2 82.4 50.6 6.0   22.4 21.3   0.9 213 228 54      
Land-in-use 1988190 22.1 61.0 45.4   25.1     21.6   175 191   0.17 239 0.22
Balance 1988/90 7.1 21.4 5.2   3.3     0.7   38 38   0.03    
Land-in-use 2010 22.1 62.5 44.7   27.9     22.0   179 195   0.12 258 0.16
Balance 2010 7.1 19.9 5.9   0.5     0.2   34 34   0.02    
Latin America and Caribbean
Land with crop production potential 15.9 59.6 182.8 382.7   277.6 91.1   44.0 1054 1059 52      
Land-in-use 1988/90 6.6 22.9 81.1   64.2     9.7   185 190   0.44 175 0.40
Balance 1988/90 9.3 36.7 101.7   596.2     125.3   869 869   2.01    
Land-in-use 2010 7.4 24.7 94.0   68.5     17.0   212 217   0.35 202 0.32
Balance 2010 8.5 34.9 88.8   591.8     118.0   842 842   1.35    
Developing countries
Land with crop production potential 153.9 350.2 593.4 597.9   517.8 258.1   65.2 2537 2573 40      
Land-in-use 1988/90 86.3 147.7 221.5   201.5     63.7   721 757   0.27 747 0.27
Balance 1988/90 67.6 202.5 372.0   914.3     259.6   1816 1816   0.65    
Land-in-use 2010 92.2 161.0 249.4   232.3     76.9   812 850   0.19 848 0.19
Balance 2010 61.7 189.2 344.0   883.5     246.4   1725 1725   0.39    

*Note: "Land-in-use" could not be identified separately for the land classes AT4 and AT5, and AT6 and AT7
†Land-in-use in each class aggregated with weights reflecting its productive potential (weights range from 2.2 for irrigated through 1.0 for sub-humid to 0.31 for dry semi-arid, see Chapter 2). The weights used for each land class have been adjusted to reflect the fact that part of the land in each class is presently irrigated. in the absence of estimates for the irrigation potential of the land balance, a homogeneous total of comparable quality cannot be defined for the balance.

Table 4.5 Arable land-in-use, cropping intensities and harvested land,* developing countries, excluding China (million ha)

 

Total land-in-use

Rainfed use

 Irrigated use
On land with rainfed crop production potential (AT1 to AT7) On arid and hyper- and land Total arable As per- cent of total arable land-in- use Cropping intensity (%) Harves- ted As per cent of total harvested land-in- use
Arable Cropping intensity (%) Harvested Arable Cropping intensity (%) Harvested
Sub-Saharan Africa
(1969/71) (124)   (98)           (3.6)        
(1988/90) (140)   (114)           (5.3)        
1988/90 212.5 55 117.7 207.2 55 113.7 4.6 0.7 5.3 2 75 4.0 3
2010 254.7 62 158.1 247.7 61 152.2 6.2 0.8 7.0 3 84 5.9 4
Near East/North Africa
(1969/71) (89)   (53)           (16.3)        
(1988/90) (93)   (62)           (20.1)        
1988/90 76.5 83 63.4 56.4 77 43.7 5.3 14.8 20.1 26 98 19.7 31
2010 80.5 93 74.8 57.9 85 49.0 6.5 16.2 22.7 28 114 25.8 34
East Asia (excl. China)
(1969/71) (68)   (64)           (11.0)        
(1988/90) (82)   (85)           (20.0)        
1988/90 87.5 101 88.8 68.2 96 65.6 19.3 0.0 19.3 22 120 23.2 26
2010 102.8 105 108.4 81.2 100 81.3 21.5 0.0 21.5 21 126 27.1 25
South Asia
(1969/71) (197)   (187)           (44.8)        
(1988/90) (204)   (205)           (65.2)        
1988/90 190.5 112 213.0 127.1 109 138.4 48.1 15.3 63.4 33 118 74.6 35
2010 194.9 122 237.0 118.6 113 133.6 60.5 15.8 76.3 39 136 103.4 44
Latin America and Caribbean
(1969/71) (117)   (88)           (10.0)        
(1988/90) (150)   (113)           (15.4)        
1988/90 189.6 61 115.6 174.6 58 101.5 9.9 5.1 15.0 8 94 14.1 12
2010 216.8 67 145.0 198.4 64 127.0 13.2 5.1 18.3 8 98 18.0 12
Developing countries
(1969/71) (595)   (498)           (85.7)        
(1988190) (669)   (579)           (126.1)        
1988/90 756.7 79 598.5 633.6 73 462.9 87.1 35.9 123.0 16 110 135.6 23
2010 849.7 85 723.3 703.8 77 543.1 108.0 37.9 145.9 17 124 180.2 25

*Data in parentheses are the historical data before adjustment. Adjustments were made only for 1988/90 (see text).

Table 4.6 Arable land-in-use, comparison of projections with the historical data (before and after adjustment)

  1961/63 1969/71 1979/81 1989/91 1988/90 1988/90 adjusted* 2010 1961-70 1970-80 1980-91 1988/90 adjusted* 2010

(million ha)

(million ha)

(annual growth (% p.a.))
Developing countries of the study, excl. China 559 595 639 671 669 757 850 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.6
Sub-Saharan Africa 116 124 133 140 140 212 255 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.9
Near East/North Africa 86 89 91 93 93 77 80 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.2
East Asia (excl. China) 63 68 75 82 82 88 103 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.8
South Asia 191 197 202 205 204 190 195 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1
Latin America and Caribbean 104 117 138 151 150 189 217 1.5 1.7 0.9 0.6
Memo item                      
Developing countries of the study excl. subSaharan Africa and China 443 471 506 531 529 545 595 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.4
Developing countries with small data adjustments† 408 428 450 465 465 449 492 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4
China 104 102 100 96 95 ‡   -0.3 -0.2 -0.5  
All developing countries§ 668 702 745 773       0.6 0.6 0.4  
Developed countries 666 674 672 668       0.1 0.0 -0.1  
North America 224 234 236 234       0.4 0.1 -0.1  
Western Europe 108 103 100 98       -0.5 -0.2 -0.2  
Ex-CPEs 282 275 272 269       -0.4 -0.1 -0.1  
Others 52 61 63 67       2.5 0.4 0.5  
World 1335 1376 1416 1441       0.4 0.3 0.2  

Note: The historical data are the official ones supplemented by unofficial data and FAO estimates in the standard FAO data on arable land and land in permanent crops.
* Adjusted for this study, as explained in the text.
†Countries for which the 1988/90 land area was adjusted by less than 20%.
‡Some sources indicate that the land in agricultural use in China is 125 million ha.
§Including the smaller countries not covered in this study.