Agricultural land (sq. km) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Agricultural land refers to the share of land area that is arable, under permanent crops, and under permanent pastures. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Land under permanent crops is land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber. This category includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber. Permanent pasture is land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 South Africa 963,410.00 2018
2 Nigeria 691,234.50 2018
3 Sudan 681,861.60 2018
4 Angola 569,524.90 2018
5 Chad 502,380.00 2018
6 Niger 466,000.00 2018
7 Somalia 441,250.00 2018
8 Mozambique 414,138.30 2018
9 Algeria 413,588.50 2018
10 Mali 412,010.00 2018
11 Madagascar 408,950.00 2018
12 Mauritania 396,610.00 2018
13 Tanzania 396,500.00 2018
14 Namibia 388,100.00 2018
15 Ethiopia 379,030.00 2018
16 Dem. Rep. Congo 315,000.00 2018
17 Morocco 300,690.00 2018
18 Kenya 276,300.00 2018
19 Botswana 258,616.00 2018
20 Zambia 238,360.00 2018
21 Côte d'Ivoire 212,000.00 2018
22 Zimbabwe 162,000.00 2018
23 Libya 153,500.00 2018
24 Ghana 147,827.40 2018
25 Guinea 145,000.00 2018
26 Uganda 144,150.00 2018
27 Burkina Faso 121,000.00 2018
28 Congo 106,280.00 2018
29 Cameroon 97,500.00 2018
30 Tunisia 97,430.00 2018
31 Senegal 88,780.00 2018
32 Eritrea 75,920.00 2018
33 Malawi 56,500.00 2018
34 Central African Republic 50,800.00 2018
35 Benin 39,500.00 2018
36 Sierra Leone 39,490.00 2018
37 Egypt 38,359.69 2018
38 Togo 38,200.00 2018
39 Lesotho 24,333.00 2018
40 Gabon 22,126.40 2018
41 Burundi 20,330.00 2018
42 Liberia 19,540.40 2018
43 Rwanda 18,117.00 2018
44 Djibouti 17,020.00 2018
45 Eswatini 12,220.00 2018
46 Guinea-Bissau 8,151.10 2018
47 The Gambia 6,050.00 2018
48 Equatorial Guinea 2,840.00 2018
49 Comoros 1,310.00 2018
50 Mauritius 860.00 2018
51 Cabo Verde 790.00 2018
52 São Tomé and Principe 440.00 2018
53 Seychelles 15.50 2018

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Development Relevance: Agricultural land covers more than one-third of the world's land area. In many industrialized countries, agricultural land is subject to zoning regulations. In the context of zoning, agricultural land (or more properly agriculturally zoned land) refers to plots that may be used for agricultural activities, regardless of the physical type or quality of land. FAO's agricultural land data contains a wide range of information on variables that are significant for understanding the structure of a country's agricultural sector; making economic plans and policies for food security; and deriving environmental indicators, including those related to investment in agriculture and data on gross crop area and net crop area which are useful for policy formulation and monitoring. Agriculture is still a major sector in many economies, and agricultural activities provide developing countries with food and revenue. But agricultural activities also can degrade natural resources. Poor farming practices can cause soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Efforts to increase productivity by using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and intensive irrigation have environmental costs and health impacts. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers can alter the chemistry of soil. Pesticide poisoning is common in developing countries. And salinization of irrigated land diminishes soil fertility. Thus, inappropriate use of inputs for agricultural production has far-reaching effects. There is no single correct mix of inputs to the agricultural land, as it is dependent on local climate, land quality, and economic development; appropriate levels and application rates vary by country and over time and depend on the type of crops, the climate and soils, and the production process used.

Limitations and Exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through annual questionnaires. The 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. For example, permanent pastures are quite different in nature and intensity in African countries and dry Middle Eastern countries. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Agricultural land constitutes only a part of any country's total area, which can include areas not suitable for agriculture, such as forests, mountains, and inland water bodies. Three components of the agricultural land are a) arable land - land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow, b) permanent pasture - land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops, and c) and under permanent crops - land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber; land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines is included, but land under trees grown for wood or timber is not. Agricultural land is also sometimes classified as irrigated and non-irrigated land. In arid and semi-arid countries agriculture is often confined to irrigated land, with very little farming possible in non-irrigated areas. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded from arable land. Data on agricultural land are valuable for conducting studies on a various perspectives concerning agricultural production, food security and for deriving cropping intensity among others uses. Agricultural land indicator, along with land-use indicators, can also elucidate the environmental sustainability of countries' agricultural practices.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual