Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
79
TABLE 15: COUNTRIES IN EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA, NORTH AFRICA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST
WITH THE MOST ABUNDANT AGRICULTURAL LAND AND IRRIGATED LAND RESOURCES, 2008
Rank Country
Agricultural area
(million ha)
Country
Area irrigated
(million ha)
1 Russian Federation 215.5 Turkey 5.2
2 Algeria 41.3 Russian Federation 4.3
3 Ukraine 41.3 Spain 3.3
4 Turkey 39.2 Italy 2.7
5 Morocco 30.0 Ukraine 2.2
6 France 29.3 France 1.5
7 Spain 27.9 Azerbaijan 1.4
8 Yemen 23.5 Greece 1.4
9 United Kingdom 17.6 Syria 1.3
10 Germany 16.9 Morocco 1.3
11 Poland 16.2 Portugal 0.4
12 Libya 15.6 Tunisia 0.4
13 Italy 14.2 Romania 0.3
14 Syria 13.9 Denmark 0.3
15 Romania 13.5 Moldova 0.2
16 Tunisia 9.8 Netherlands 0.2
17 Iraq 9.2 Albania 0.2
18 Belarus 8.9 Armenia 0.2
19 Greece 7.0 Israel 0.2
20 Hungary 5.8 Georgia 0.1
Source: FAOSTAT (FAO 2013).
Note: Arable land includes area under annual and perennial crops, permanent and temporary meadows and
pastures, gardens, and temporarily fallow land. See FAO for a more precise definition of these categories.
In absolute terms, compared to some neighboring countries with warm climates, Turkey
ranks first in renewable freshwater resources, with 227 billion cubic meters available in
an average year . Water availability is similar in France and Italy in absolute
terms and also on a per capita basis. Per capita availability is significantly higher in
Georgia and to a lesser extent Greece, but those countries have less agricultural land.
Georgia’s climate is not as mild as Turkey’s, which limits production of some products.
Worsening water constraints and growing populations in MENA suggest that the region’s
food imports are likely to grow.