FAO highlights Morocco as model for data-driven land planning

Morocco and Ecuador are emerging as examples of how data-driven land assessments can guide smarter planning, protect fragile soils, and strengthen food security, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2025 State of Food and Agriculture report.

The FAO warns that climate change, erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and rising global food demand are placing unprecedented pressure on agricultural systems.

The result, the agency says, is a widening gap between the potential of farmland and its actual productivity, a trend linked in part to poor land management across both the Global South and the Global North.

Morocco is among the report’s early case studies. In 2015, the country conducted a detailed land-degradation assessment in the Souss-Massa region, an economically and environmentally sensitive agricultural zone.

The assessment found that 19 percent of the region’s land was already degraded. It also mapped degradation hotspots, identified areas where sustainable practices were working, and provided the foundation for local action.

That led to a participatory planning process involving government institutions and local communities, resulting in a territorial charter and a three-year action plan to integrate sustainable land management into daily development decisions.

Ecuador adopted a different data approach. The country built a national baseline for soil organic carbon, creating a detailed picture of soil health across its territory.

Through the PROSA program, Ecuador completed a nationwide land-degradation assessment that allowed officials to identify the most vulnerable zones and direct investments to the areas most in need. According to FAO, this helped embed soil management into a broader national strategy grounded in evidence rather than assumptions.

FAO analysts say the cases matter because land degradation directly reduces agricultural productivity. When soil erodes, loses nutrients, or weakens structurally, yields decline even under favorable climate and water conditions.

For countries where farming remains central to livelihoods and economic stability, the consequences can be significant.

The report urges countries facing high levels of degradation to move quickly by setting intervention priorities, securing funding for local land-restoration programs, and strengthening the capacity of communities and institutions to act.

Without such measures, FAO warns that ongoing soil degradation could drive long-term declines in global production of cereals, legumes, and other staple crops, increasing price pressures and heightening the vulnerability of low- and middle-income countries.