Albania - Agricultural land (sq. km)

The value for Agricultural land (sq. km) in Albania was 11,741 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 12,440 in 1967 and a minimum value of 10,750 in 1976.

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:

Year Value
1961 12,320
1962 12,320
1963 12,330
1964 12,300
1965 12,370
1966 12,400
1967 12,440
1968 12,400
1969 12,350
1970 12,300
1971 12,000
1972 11,740
1973 11,460
1974 11,220
1975 10,800
1976 10,750
1977 11,090
1978 11,140
1979 11,170
1980 11,180
1981 11,160
1982 11,140
1983 11,100
1984 11,130
1985 11,120
1986 11,110
1987 11,110
1988 11,170
1989 11,100
1990 11,210
1991 11,270
1992 11,270
1993 11,260
1994 11,260
1995 11,270
1996 11,310
1997 11,350
1998 11,390
1999 11,450
2000 11,440
2001 11,390
2002 11,400
2003 11,210
2004 11,220
2005 10,770
2006 11,200
2007 11,190
2008 11,810
2009 12,013
2010 12,013
2011 12,010
2012 12,013
2013 11,873
2014 11,743
2015 11,743
2016 11,817
2017 11,692
2018 11,741

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

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Land use