Côte d'Ivoire - Agricultural land (sq. km)

The value for Agricultural land (sq. km) in Côte d'Ivoire was 212,000 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 212,000 in 2018 and a minimum value of 156,800 in 1961.

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 156,800
1962 158,800
1963 158,800
1964 159,800
1965 160,800
1966 160,800
1967 161,500
1968 161,500
1969 162,000
1970 162,000
1971 163,000
1972 163,100
1973 164,400
1974 166,250
1975 167,150
1976 168,400
1977 170,800
1978 172,100
1979 172,250
1980 172,550
1981 173,700
1982 174,900
1983 175,840
1984 179,010
1985 181,800
1986 182,800
1987 184,000
1988 187,200
1989 188,200
1990 189,300
1991 189,500
1992 192,000
1993 195,020
1994 197,000
1995 198,000
1996 198,000
1997 197,000
1998 197,000
1999 196,000
2000 196,000
2001 196,000
2002 196,000
2003 196,000
2004 200,000
2005 202,000
2006 203,000
2007 206,000
2008 206,000
2009 206,000
2010 206,000
2011 206,000
2012 207,000
2013 212,000
2014 212,000
2015 212,000
2016 212,000
2017 212,000
2018 212,000

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