Better land, soil & water management key to feeding 10 billion people, FAO warns | FAO News

Rome – Feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050 will require bold & smarter choices in how the world manages its land, soil & water, the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warns in a new flagship report.

The latest edition of The State of the World’s Land & Water Resources for Food & Agriculture (SOLAW 2025) report, released on Monday, underscores that these essential resources are finite. Safeguarding them is critical to securing global food security now & in the decades to come.

Under the theme “The potential to produce more & better,” the report highlights the significant, often overlooked potential of land & water resources to support sustainable increases in food production. It presents strategies for producing more – & better – food for a growing population while ensuring the responsible & resilient management of land, soil, & water.

In 2024, an estimated 673 million people experienced hunger, & many regions continue to grapple with severe & recurrent food emergencies. These pressures will intensify as the global population approaches 9.7 billion by 2050, requiring agriculture to produce 50 percent more food, feed & fibre than in 2012, alongside 25 percent more freshwater.

The core challenge:  producing more with less

Over the past 60 years, global agricultural production tripled with only an 8 percent increase in agricultural land – but at high environmental & social costs.  Today, more than 60 percent of human-induced land degradation occurs on agricultural land, according to FAO data.

Expanding agricultural area is no longer viable, the report stresses.  For example, clearing forests or converting fragile ecosystems would undermine critical biodiversity & ecosystem functions that agriculture itself depends on.

Solutions exist – but action must be swift

SOLAW 2025 presents science-based recommendations for the sustainable use & management of land, soil, & water resources.

The report indicates that the world has the potential to feed up to 10.3 billion people by 2085, when the global population is expected to peak. However, achieving this depends on how food is produced — & at what environmental, social, & economic costs.

Future productivity gains must therefore come from smarter, not simply more, production. This means closing yield gaps (the difference between currently obtained & potentially attainable yield); diversifying into resilient crop varieties; & adopting locally-tailored, resource-efficient practices suited to specific land, soil, & water conditions.

Rainfed agriculture — relied on by millions of smallholder farmers — offers key opportunities. Productivity can rise significantly by scaling up conservation agriculture, drought-tolerant crops, & drought-resilient practices such as soil moisture conservation, crop diversification, & organic composting.  Such practices can strengthen food security for millions of smallholder farmers while enhancing soil health & on-farm biodiversity.

Integrated systems such as agroforestry, rotational grazing & forage improvement, as well as rice–fish farming, offer additional pathways to sustainable intensification.

The potential for substantial productivity gains is particularly strong in developing regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, rainfed crop yields currently reach just 24 percent of their attainable potential under appropriate management.

There is no single pathway & no one-size-fits-all solution, the report stresses. Sustainable solutions require coherent policies, strong governance, accessible data & technology, innovation, risk management, & sustainable financing & investment, as well as strengthened capacity across institutions & communities.

With the climate crisis reshaping where & how food can be grown, “the choices we make today for the management of land & water resources will determine how we meet current & future demands while protecting the world for generations to come,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu writes in the report’s Foreword.

Looking ahead

In 2026, the three Rio Conventions — the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), & the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — will hold major conferences. SOLAW 2025 provides solutions that cut across all three areas, providing a shared foundation for integrated, sustainable land, soil, & water management to build resilient agrifood systems.

Land, soil, & water solutions are key to food security, nutrition, human well-being, & global sustainability goals.