A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations highlights a serious global problem: land degradation. This issue affects nearly 1.7 billion people worldwide. It makes it harder to grow food, harms our environment, and threatens the health of communities.
The “State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2025” report, released on November 3, 2025, shows that land degradation is a growing crisis. It quietly reduces farm productivity and damages natural ecosystems. Many people are already living in areas where land degradation is causing crop yields to fall.
Asia and Africa are facing significant challenges. In these regions, high population density combined with extensive land degradation means many people are directly impacted. India, for example, has seen large drops in crop yields because of land that has been damaged by human activities.
The report points to agricultural expansion as the main reason for deforestation. About 90 per cent of forest loss is due to farming. While the total area used for agriculture decreased slightly between 2001 and 2023, the land used for crops actually grew. Meanwhile, grasslands and pastures shrank.
There are big differences across regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, crop areas expanded significantly, leading to a large amount of forest loss. Latin America also saw increased cropland and a considerable amount of deforestation.
Land degradation also leads to land being abandoned. Around 3.6 million hectares of farmland are abandoned every year. It is likely that damaged land is a major cause of these losses.
However, the report offers a hopeful outlook. If even 10 per cent of human-induced land degradation on current farmland could be reversed, it could produce enough food for an extra 154 million people each year. Restoring abandoned farmland could potentially feed between 292 and 476 million people.
The link between land degradation, poverty, and food insecurity is a serious concern in many parts of the world. The FAO’s analysis shows this connection is strongest in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In these areas, poor land quality is combined with high poverty rates and widespread childhood stunting. About 47 million young children are suffering from stunted growth in areas where land degradation is causing severe yield losses.
The size of farms plays a big role in how land is managed and how much food is produced. Large farms often use advanced technologies. These can help optimise the use of resources like water and fertilisers, leading to higher productivity. However, sometimes these technologies can unintentionally worsen land degradation.
Smaller farms often face greater difficulties. They frequently work with more vulnerable land and struggle due to a lack of resources and market access. Out of the world’s approximately 570 million farms, 85 per cent are smaller than 2 hectares. These small farms use only about 9 per cent of total farmland. In contrast, a very small number of huge farms, over 1,000 hectares, control about half of all agricultural land.
While all farm sizes experience soil organic carbon loss, the effects and ability to cope differ greatly. Large farms in heavily farmed areas, like parts of Europe and North America, show a strong link between past degradation and current yield losses. Their productivity is maintained by high input use, but this comes at a growing economic and environmental cost. In contrast, smallholder-dominated regions in sub-Saharan Africa have large yield gaps mainly due to limited resources, rather than degradation itself. Even when these farmers gain access to more resources, degraded soils may not respond well.
Despite facing many challenges, including limited access to land, credit, supplies, technology, and markets, the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers contribute significantly to global food supplies. They play a vital role in local food systems and dietary variety. Their work also supports rural livelihoods, especially through high-value crops. Large-scale operations dominate global trade, showing their significant influence on food availability and their responsibility for managing land sustainably.
