Africa had around 1,173 million hectares of agricultural land in 2022, which corresponded to nearly 40 percent of the continent's total land area. Since 2010, the area used for the cultivation of crops and the production of animals followed a slightly increasing trend on the continent.

Sudan had the largest agricultural land area in Africa in 2022, corresponding to around 112.7 million hectares. Following, South Africa and Nigeria had roughly 96.3 million and 69.8 million hectares of land under agricultural activities, respectively. In proportion to the total land area, Lesotho was the African country with the largest share of land devoted to agriculture.

Arable land (% of land area) in South Africa was reported at 9.8921 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Arable land (% of land area) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

The average for 2021 based on 53 countries was 14.9 percent. The highest value was in Rwanda: 51.4 percent and the lowest value was in Djibouti: 0.1 percent. The indicator is available from 1961 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Agricultural activities occupied roughly 39.21 percent of Africa's total land area in 2022. The share of land used for agriculture followed a slightly increasing trend since 2010, increasing from around 37.9 percent that year. Currently, Africa's agricultural land covers over 1.1 billion hectares.

The Central African Republic: Arable land, percent of total land area: The latest value from 2022 is 2.9 percent, unchanged from 2.9 percent in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 14.5 percent, based on data from 189 countries. Historically, the average for the Central African Republic from 1961 to 2022 is 2.9 percent. The minimum value, 2.7 percent, was reached in 1961 while the maximum of 3 percent was recorded in 1977.

Côte d'Ivoire had the largest share of agricultural land area in Africa in 2022. That year, the agricultural land area corresponded to around 84 percent of the country's area. Burundi, Rwanda, Lesotho, and South Africa followed, with agricultural activities accounting for roughly 82.8, 81.3, 80.1, and 79.4 percent of the total area, respectively. In contrast, the lowest percentages were registered in Seychelles (3.4 percent), Equatorial Guinea (3.7 percent), and Egypt (4.1 percent).

South Africa: Arable land, percent of total land area: The latest value from 2022 is 9.9 percent, unchanged from 9.9 percent in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 14.5 percent, based on data from 189 countries. Historically, the average for South Africa from 1961 to 2022 is 10.4 percent. The minimum value, 9.9 percent, was reached in 1961 while the maximum of 11.4 percent was recorded in 2000.

South Africa had nearly 96.34 million hectares of agricultural land in 2021, which corresponded to around 79 percent of the country's total land area. During the period reviewed, the area used for the cultivation of crops and the production of animals decreased overall until 2011, after which it remained stable.

South Africa ZA: Arable Land data was reported at 12,500,000.000 ha in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 12,500,000.000 ha for 2014. South Africa ZA: Arable Land data is updated yearly, averaging 12,533,000.000 ha from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2015, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13,812,000.000 ha in 2000 and a record low of 12,000,000.000 ha in 1961. South Africa ZA: Arable Land data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Arable land (in hectares) 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.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; ;

Agricultural land (% of land area) in South Africa was reported at 79.42 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Agricultural land (% of land area) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

As part of the the World Bank's review of its rural development strategy, the Bank sought the assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in evaluating how farming systems might change and adapt over the next thirty years. Amongst other objectives, the World Bank asked FAO to provide guidance on priorities for investment in food security, poverty reduction, and economic growth, and in particular to identify promising approaches and technologies that will contribute to these goals. The results of the study are summarized in a set of seven documents, comprising six regional reports and the global overview contained in this volume. This document, which synthesises the results of the six regional analyses as well as discussing global trends, cross-cutting issues and possible implementation modalities, presents an overview of the complete study. This document is supplemented by two case study reports of development issues of importance to farming systems globally. Relative resource availability is very much a function of population ? the availability of arable land per capita in developing countries has declined by almost half since the 1960s. The current pressure of agricultural population on arable and permanent crop land averages 2.3 persons per hectare ? in relation to total population the pressure averages 4.6 persons per hectare.

Land used for agricultural and animal production in South Africa covered around 79 percent of the country's total land in 2021. From 2000 to 2011, the area under crop cultivation and animal husbandry dropped. Later, the agricultural area remained stable. South Africa had over 96 million hectares of agricultural land in 2021.

South Africa ZA: Agricultural Irrigated Land: % of Total Agricultural Land data was reported at 1.661 % in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.587 % for 2010. South Africa ZA: Agricultural Irrigated Land: % of Total Agricultural Land data is updated yearly, averaging 1.624 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.661 % in 2011 and a record low of 1.587 % in 2010. South Africa ZA: Agricultural Irrigated Land: % of Total Agricultural Land data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Agricultural irrigated land refers to agricultural areas purposely provided with water, including land irrigated by controlled flooding.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; Weighted average;

Africa Agricultural Irrigated Land Dataset Card

  Dataset Summary

Annual share of agricultural land equipped for irrigation expressed as a percentage of total agricultural land for 23 African countries (data availability varies) covering 1961-2021.Source indicator: World Bank — Agricultural irrigated land (% of total agricultural land) (AG.LND.IRIG.AG.ZS).Data cleaned and reformatted for ML pipelines.

  Source & Licensing

Original data: World Bank Open Data –… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/Africa-Agricultural-Irrigated-Land-as-percentage-of-total-Agricultural-land.

This dataset describes the upland and lowland vegetation of Sierra Leone. Measurements are given in area (in multiples of 1,000 hectares), as a percentage of total arable land, and as a percentage of total land area.

This map features Africa Land Cover at 30m resolution from MDAUS BaseVue 2013, referencing the World Land Cover 30m BaseVue 2013 layer.Land cover data represent a descriptive thematic surface for characteristics of the land's surface such as densities or types of developed areas, agricultural lands, and natural vegetation regimes. Land cover data are the result of a model, so a good way to think of the values in each cell are as the predominating value rather than the only characteristic in that cell.Land use and land cover data are critical and fundamental for environmental monitoring, planning, and assessment.Dataset SummaryBaseVue 2013 is a commercial global, land use / land cover (LULC) product developed by MDA. BaseVue covers the Earth’s entire land area, excluding Antarctica. BaseVue is independently derived from roughly 9,200 Landsat 8 images and is the highest spatial resolution (30m), most current LULC product available. The capture dates for the Landsat 8 imagery range from April 11, 2013 to June 29, 2014. The following 16 classes of land use / land cover are listed by their cell value in this layer: Deciduous Forest: Trees > 3 meters in height, canopy closure >35% (<25% inter-mixture with evergreen species) that seasonally lose their leaves, except Larch.Evergreen Forest: Trees >3 meters in height, canopy closure >35% (<25% inter-mixture with deciduous species), of species that do not lose leaves. (will include coniferous Larch regardless of deciduous nature).Shrub/Scrub: Woody vegetation <3 meters in height, > 10% ground cover. Only collect >30% ground cover.Grassland: Herbaceous grasses, > 10% cover, including pasture lands. Only collect >30% cover.Barren or Minimal Vegetation: Land with minimal vegetation (<10%) including rock, sand, clay, beaches, quarries, strip mines, and gravel pits. Salt flats, playas, and non-tidal mud flats are also included when not inundated with water.Not Used (in other MDA products 6 represents urban areas or built up areas, which have been split here in into values 20 and 21).Agriculture, General: Cultivated crop landsAgriculture, Paddy: Crop lands characterized by inundation for a substantial portion of the growing seasonWetland: Areas where the water table is at or near the surface for a substantial portion of the growing season, including herbaceous and woody species (except mangrove species)Mangrove: Coastal (tropical wetlands) dominated by Mangrove speciesWater: All water bodies greater than 0.08 hectares (1 LS pixel) including oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, and streamsIce / Snow: Land areas covered permanently or nearly permanent with ice or snowClouds: Areas where no land cover interpretation is possible due to obstruction from clouds, cloud shadows, smoke, haze, or satellite malfunctionWoody Wetlands: Areas where forest or shrubland vegetation accounts for greater than 20% of vegetative cover and the soil or substrate periodically is saturated with, or covered by water. Only used within the continental U.S.Mixed Forest: Areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20% of total vegetation cover. Neither deciduous nor evergreen species are greater than 75% of total tree cover. Only used within the continental U.S.Not UsedNot UsedNot UsedNot UsedHigh Density Urban: Areas with over 70% of constructed materials that are a minimum of 60 meters wide (asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.). Includes residential areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation where constructed materials account for >60%. Commercial, industrial, and transportation i.e., Train stations, airports, etc.Medium-Low Density Urban: Areas with 30%-70% of constructed materials that are a minimum of 60 meters wide (asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.). Includes residential areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation, where constructed materials account for greater than 40%. Commercial, industrial, and transportation i.e., Train stations, airports, etc.MDA updated the underlying data in late 2016 and this service was updated in February 2017. An improved selection of cloud-free images was used to produce the update, resulting in improvement of classification quality to 80% of the tiles for this service.What can you do with this layer?This layer can be used to create maps and to visualize the underlying data across the ArcGIS platform. It can also be used as an analytic input in ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro.This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. The layer is restricted to an 16,000 x 16,000 pixel limit, which represents an area of nearly 300 miles on a side. This layer is part of a larger collection of landscape layers that you can use to perform a wide variety of mapping and analysis tasks.

This horizontal bar chart displays agricultural land (km²) by countries using the aggregation sum in Middle Africa. The data is about countries.

Arable land (hectares) in South Africa was reported at 12000000 ha in 2021, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Arable land (hectares) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

Organic agriculture covered only **** percent of the total farmland area in South Africa as of 2020. Compared to the previous year, this was an increase from *** percent. During the period reviewed, the share of agricultural land used for organic farming in the country fluctuated peaking in 2010 and 2011 at **** percent of the total agricultural land. The share was lowest in 2000 and 2016 at **** percent.