Agriculture in the Arid Environments of West Asia and North Africa

West Asia and North Africa (WANA) is a vast region of arid/semiarid terrain. The WANA extends from the Atlas Mountains (Morocco) until the Nile Delta (Egypt) in the east of North Africa. West Asia includes land mass from Syria/Iran to Yemen. Salinity-affected arid zones occur in the Arabian Gulf (United Arab Emirates). Farming in WANA experiences multiple abiotic and biotic factors. Major crops cultivated are wheat, barley, millets, lentils, chickpea, vetch, cotton, pastures, dates, and olive plantations. The crop productivity in WANA is marginal. Soils are xeric, gypsiferous, and excessively sandy/silty. They have low moisture-holding capacity. Aridity, desiccation, and drought induce extremity. Hot summers with soil/ambient temperatures reaching 45–53°C and cold (−5°C to +3°C) fronts, frost, and fog are inhospitable to crops. The WANA is a rain-fed agrarian belt. The North African hot, dry, sandy soils induce seedling scorching, desiccation, and loss of crop stand. Crop’s tolerance to heat stress is essential. Crops have to overcome biotic stresses like disease, insect pests, and migratory locust swarms. Periodic dust storms of North African sub-Sahara erode fertile soils. It makes farming extremely difficult.