• Report: 54% of North African farmers face salinity-related crop losses.
• Egypt worst hit, with 35% of its farmland affected by salinity.
• Farmers adapt with irrigation, soil amendments, and salt-tolerant crops.

A new report has found that nearly 54% of farmers in North African countries are experiencing crop losses due to soil salinization, a major challenge affecting both irrigated and rainfed lands.

The report, titled "Crop loss due to soil salinity and agricultural adaptations to it in the Middle East and North Africa Region," was published Sunday, August 31, 2025, by the scientific journal publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). The findings are based on a survey of 294 farmers across Morocco (100), Tunisia (82), and Egypt (112), conducted with the assistance of regional offices from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).

In the three countries studied, roughly 23% of farmers reported crop losses of up to 20% due to salt deposits, while close to 15% said their losses were 60% or more. An additional 16% of farmers estimated their losses at less than 20%.

The report, authored by researchers from the ICBA, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and Egypt's Ain Shams University, clarifies that salinity in agricultural land stems from multiple sources. It is critical to distinguish between soil salinity, which is the accumulation of salt in the root zone, and irrigation water salinity, which refers to the salt concentration in water sources. These processes often coexist in arid and semi-arid regions, leading to secondary salinization, especially where drainage is poor or evaporation rates are high.

Salinization is caused by two main factors: primary salinization from natural causes like rock weathering, volcanic activity, and atmospheric salt deposits, and secondary salinization driven by human actions. These include poor agricultural practices like irrigating with low-quality water, inadequate drainage, deforestation, the removal of deep-rooted vegetation, and the overuse of fertilizers and chemicals. Climate change exacerbates the issue by accelerating saltwater intrusion due to rising sea levels, higher temperatures, increased evaporation, and the over-extraction of groundwater.

The study found that the extent of salinization varies across the region depending on local rainfall, temperature, and soil drainage. In Egypt, where most of the population lives near the Nile, about 35% of cultivated land suffers from salinity and poor drainage. In Morocco, nearly 21% of irrigated land is affected, with some estimates suggesting 5% of all farmland is impacted. In Tunisia, an estimated 1.5 million hectares (10% of the total country area) are affected.

The report also revealed that North African farmers have adopted five main measures to adapt to soil salinization and reduce crop losses, particularly for wheat and fodder crops. The primary measure is improved irrigation methods, used by 46.6% of farmers. This is followed by organic soil amendments (24.49%), planting salt-tolerant crops like blue panicgrass, sesbania, and pearl millet (23.63%), crop rotation (15.44%), and improved drainage (7.14%). The survey results indicate that access to credit, membership in agricultural cooperatives, and training are key factors in significantly reducing salinization-related crop losses, underscoring the need to encourage these practices to manage a phenomenon that is worsening with accelerating global warming.

Walid Kéfi