Agricultural land
Agricultural land (percentage of land area)https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.IRIG.AG.ZS
| Title | Agricultural land |
| Unit of measure | Percentage of land area |
| Source data | World Bank |
| Original data source | Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) |
| Statistical concepts and definition | FAO's agricultural land data provides extensive insights into the structure of a country's agricultural sector, essential for developing economic policies for food security, creating environmental indicators, and planning agricultural investments. This data includes details on gross and net crop areas, vital for policy making and monitoring. The mix of inputs on agricultural land varies with local conditions such as climate, soil quality, and economic development, and needs to be tailored to specific crop types, climates, soils, and farming methods. |
| Relevance | Agriculture remains pivotal to many economies, especially in developing countries where it provides essential food and revenue. However, agricultural practices can have detrimental effects on natural resources. Poor farming methods may lead to soil erosion and reduced soil fertility. The use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and intensive irrigation methods introduces environmental and health risks, including soil chemistry alterations, pesticide poisoning, and soil salinization which reduces fertility. In arid and semi-arid regions, agriculture is typically limited to irrigated areas, with minimal activity possible on non-irrigated land. Data on agricultural land, excluding land abandoned from shifting cultivation, are crucial for studies on agricultural production, food security, and cropping intensity. These indicators also help assess the environmental sustainability of agricultural practices within a country. Note that total land area calculations exclude inland water bodies like major rivers and lakes, and annual variations in reported data may reflect updates or revisions rather than actual changes in land area. |
| Time coverage | Annual |
| Sector coverage | Infrastructure/Farming |
| Data compilation | The data are collected by FAO from official national sources through annual questionnaires and are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Thus, data on agricultural land in different climates may not be comparable. |
| Relationship* | 1 |
* This field expresses the impact on vulnerability. The minus sign indicates that it has a vulnerability-decreasing impact (positive impact on resilience), and the plus sign indicates a vulnerability-increasing impact.