Pakistan has lost 30% of its agricultural land to soil salinity and sodicity, according to a comprehensive assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, marking the first major study of salt-affected soils in 50 years.
The FAO assessment covers six Asian countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, and Thailand. Among these, the extent of saline and sodic soils varies significantly, from 0.05 million hectares in Malaysia to 36 million hectares in China.
Globally, 1,500 salt-tolerant species exist, but only 1% are utilized in Pakistan. Out of Pakistan’s 22 million hectares of agricultural land, 6.67 million hectares are affected by salinity and sodicity, the report states. The country’s total land area is 79.7 million hectares. While some crops such as cotton, sugar beet, barley, and date palm show salt tolerance, they do not exhibit the full resilience of halophytes.Â
Rice is the most cultivated crop in saline and sodic conditions in the country, followed by wheat, cotton, and barley. These crops are irrigated using brackish water, a practice also observed in Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia.
The report warns that soil salinisation rates could increase by up to 10% annually due to climate change, poor agricultural management practices, and natural processes, posing a growing threat to regional food security.
In many countries, including Pakistan, comprehensive data on the total extent of salt-affected soils remain unavailable. The FAO calls for systematic surveys and data compilation to better understand the scale of the issue and develop sustainable management strategies.
Globally, 1.4 billion hectares of land, over 10% of the planet’s total land area, are already affected by salinity. An additional 1 billion hectares are at risk due to climate change and human mismanagement, the report warns.
