ARAB FORUM FOR RURAL ADVISORY SERVICES (AFRAS)

Country briefs

28/10/2025

Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens rural advisory and extension systems across the Arab region by linking public, private, and civil-society providers to scale inclusive, climate-smart services.

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory services across the Arab region by linking public, private, and civil-society providers. In Algeria, agriculture is an important pillar of the economy: about 13 percent of GDP, 9 percent of total employment, and a quarter of the population living in rural areas. Arable land exceeds 7.5 million hectares, and roughly 17.3 percent of national territory is agricultural.

28/10/2025

Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) is a regional platform that strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory and extension systems by linking public, private, and civil-society providers across the Arab region. Arable land made up 25.4 percent of the Syrian Arab Republic’s landmass in 2021 (World Bank, 2021a).

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory services across the Arab region. In Palestine, farming persists under severe human-induced constraints, movement restrictions and land confiscation compounded by water scarcity, which also weakens extension delivery.

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory services across the Arab region. In Morocco, agriculture remains central for livelihoods and trade in a predominantly smallholder landscape. About two thirds of national land is agricultural, the sector contributed roughly a tenth of GDP in 2023, and nearly a third of employment, with women representing almost half of the agricultural workforce.

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) is a regional platform that strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory and extension systems by linking public, private, and civil-society providers across the Arab region.

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens inclusive, climate-smart advisory services across the Arab region. In Iraq, agriculture underpins rural livelihoods yet remains a modest economic contributor: about 22 percent of land is agricultural, the sector provides ~8 percent of jobs and 2.8 percent of GDP, and most farms are smallholders (over 80 percent under 10 ha, often fragmented). Production is dominated by cereals—especially wheat and barley,

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) strengthens rural advisory and extension systems across the Arab region by linking public, private, and civil-society providers to scale inclusive, climate-smart services. In Egypt, agriculture remains a cornerstone of Egypt’s economy and poverty reduction strategy, employing 19 percent of the population (World Bank, 2023).

28/10/2025

The Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) is a regional platform strengthening rural advisory and extension systems across the Arab region by linking public, private, and civil-society providers to scale inclusive, climate-smart services. This brief highlights a water-scarce agrifood sector in Jordan that, though modest in GDP and employment, remains strategic for livelihoods.