This Thursday, the UN reported that each year, cultivated land the size of Italy is destroyed for urbanizations and industrialization.
Approximately 75 million acres is lost according to UN rapporteur, Olivier De Schutter. To add to the already alarming numbers, over 500 million small farmers aren’t able to eat enough due to the lack of land.
Over the past generation in Southern and Eastern Africa, the cultivated land per capita has been cut nearly in half.
“As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, the plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year. Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation,” the envoy told the UN General Assembly.
