Temporary crops & meadows - Fallow land

Topics Land Use Temporary crops & meadows

India is the top country by fallow land in the world. As of 2021, fallow land in India was 23,612 thousand hectares that accounts for 14.60% of the world's fallow land. The top 5 countries (others are Pakistan, China, Indonesia, and Brazil) account for 43.26% of it. The world's total fallow land was estimated at 161,756 thousand hectares in 2021.

Fallow land (temporary) is the cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons. The maximum idle period is usually less than five years. Land remaining fallow for two long may acquire characteristics requiring to be reclassified, such as "permanent meadows and pastures" (if used for grazing), "forest or wooded land" (if overgrown with trees), or "other land" (if it becomes wasteland).

Fallow land (thousand hectares)

	2005	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Afghanistan	4,420	4,312	4,710	4,336	4,294	4,286	4,410	4,310	4,827	5,494	4,450	3,995	3,995
Albania	137	222	213	209	204	207	202	202	188	191	193	178	179
Algeria	3,590	3,276	3,247	3,152	3,043	3,066	3,094	3,031	2,909	2,879	2,849	2,849	2,849
Andorra	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argentina	3,894	3,268	3,142	3,017	2,892	2,766	2,641	2,516	2,391	2,265	2,265	2,265	2,265
Armenia	137	156	152	130	130	123	109	93	152	203	217	221	216
Austria	95	42	41	39	39	35	48	50	52	53	52	51	51
Azerbaijan	46	41	42	42	41	41	40	40	40	40	40	39	39
Bangladesh	469	531	467	376	392	376	422	408	402	367	455	431	452
Belarus	62	24	22	22	22	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	21
Belgium	28	10	7	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	10	16	17
Belize	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	12	11
Bhutan	15	25	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	27	27	27	25
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	1,648	1,628	1,630	1,633	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636	1,636
Bosnia and Herzegovina	472	492	478	476	431	446	448	428	466	432	410	386	390
Botswana	44	16	35	22	22	22	102	102	102	102	102	102	102
Brazil	9,161	8,744	8,425	8,436	8,278	8,140	8,334	8,395	8,339	8,444	8,297	8,241	7,884
Bulgaria	348	208	174	128	121	92	235	192	160	150	150	162	138
Burkina Faso	569	637	623	661	651	667	703	703	707	733	716	735	721
Canada	3,740	2,370	2,085	1,847	1,609	1,371	1,133	894	890	713	689	698	534
Chile	437	426	391	435	418	447	431	483	479	555	638	690	706
Colombia	156	112	93	77	46	67	86	130	192	174	194	193	193
Croatia	15	12	11	11	5	6	34	16	22	25	25	29	27
Cuba	1,106	1,172	1,151	1,365	1,456	1,362	1,325	1,304	1,356	1,356	1,356	1,356	1,356
Cyprus	21	10	12	11	10	12	17	11	17	17	17	14	13
Denmark	17	35	25	25	26	22	27	34	37	76	77	82	77
Ecuador	198	194	173	127	191	94	117	126	129	168	219	215	182
Egypt	157	182	170	173	162	159	178	170	176	188	191	201	178
El Salvador	59	49	47	45	42	40	37	35	33	30	30	30	30
Estonia	23	42	46	51	41	39	55	17	13	13	10	10	10
Ethiopia	1,398	615	618	624	628	632	636	640	642	550	550	550	550
Fiji	34	32	30	28	26	24	22	20	18	16	14	12	12
Finland	241	307	276	267	254	247	271	261	254	246	222	207	213
France	1,297	623	547	499	487	466	461	469	485	486	468	504	504
Georgia	100	120	115	110	105	104	97	97	98	98	98	94	94
Germany	794	252	229	215	199	189	310	310	318	360	350	358	367
Greece	404	475	481	502	499	391	367	353	355	355	370	370	370
Guatemala	437	285	228	170	113	130	170	170	170	170	170	170	170
Guinea	671	701	687	734	740	751	765	754	752	761	748	747	739
Haiti	5	6	5	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	5
Hungary	243	240	236	136	145	72	131	147	189	178	153	118	123
Iceland	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
India	25,670	26,847	24,602	25,381	26,324	24,851	26,181	26,718	26,356	26,430	26,164	25,012	23,612
Indonesia	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342	11,342
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	4,507	4,080	3,952	3,824	3,569	3,569	3,569	3,569	4,041	4,512	4,376	4,241	4,105
Israel	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90
Italy	475	548	581	639	375	377	271	277	266	265	271	464	455
Jordan	23	44	61	57	54	48	48	51	76	67	73	91	64
Lao People's Democratic Republic	158	197	198	193	188	183	178	174	169	164	159	154	154
Latvia	91	70	70	55	60	58	60	54	75	85	56	56	59
Lebanon	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	9	9	9	9	9
Lesotho	78	78	69	137	74	68	46	246	155	152	366	342	235
Lithuania	156	120	106	86	91	86	91	69	76	110	67	62	71
Luxembourg	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mali	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000
Malta	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Mexico	7,708	6,720	6,391	6,390	6,061	5,080	5,080	5,080	3,874	3,874	3,974	3,974	3,974
Montenegro		14	14	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Morocco	1,854	2,023	1,496	1,678	1,678	1,987	1,164	1,142	1,160	1,504	1,508	1,508	1,508
Mozambique	360	365	367	369	372	374	377	377	377	377	377	377	377
Myanmar	439	241	230	322	440	457	443	450	465	465	502	507	507
Nepal	23	30	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31
Nicaragua	1,196	784	702	702	702	702	702	702	702	702	702	702	702
Norway	2	1	1	1	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Pakistan	14,790	13,490	14,380	15,250	15,250	14,810	14,690	15,350	15,560	15,400	15,400	15,160	14,900
Panama	276	286	286	286	286	286	286	286	286	286	286	286	286
Paraguay	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472	472
Peru	2,670	2,884	2,927	2,969	2,885	2,842	2,716	2,755	2,809	2,870	2,738	3,026	3,315
Philippines	56	60	59	63	61	61	63	62	62	63	60	61	59
Poland	1,029	432	468	440	447	475	134	166	150	180	157	188	188
Portugal	375	339	337	335	333	306	279	252	243	234	224	224	224
Puerto Rico	23	28	30	31	30	30	29	29	28	27	27	27	29
Qatar	7	8	10	9	8	9	9	10	11	13	13	13	13
Republic of Korea	44	51	55	45	41	40	40	52	61	61	61	63	69
Republic of Moldova	123	34	36	37	39	38	37	35	28	27	23	21	21
Romania	517	1,339	913	739	580	543	513	173	236	219	229	219	324
Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Samoa	2	2	2	3	4	4	5	3	2	1	0	0	0
Senegal	800	800	800	800	800	800	755	710	665	620	575	530	530
Serbia		23	22	22	19	20	18	17	15	9	9	9	8
Slovakia	10	11	12	13	17	17	46	42	45	45	46	44	46
Slovenia	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
South Africa	148	150	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	23
Spain	3,500	3,810	3,711	3,601	3,076	3,042	3,042	3,289	3,174	3,027	2,971	2,870	2,777
Sudan				705	504	489	489	489	489	489	489	489	489
Sweden	320	181	155	151	162	135	167	173	165	169	135	142	142
Switzerland	3	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Syrian Arab Republic	690	903	1,136	1,237	1,523	1,579	1,635	1,691	1,558	1,540	1,455	1,442	1,442
Tajikistan	24	30	34	31	30	30	29	29	27	26	21	21	22
Thailand	402	355	346	337	327	318	309	300	290	281	272	262	253
Tunisia	913	869	814	847	1,145	784	1,270	620	617	605	605	605	605
Ukraine	2,428	1,465	1,211	1,247	251	239	234	231	229	190	167	167	167
United Arab Emirates	20	16	17	29	30	31	32	32	31	30	32	32	30
United Republic of Tanzania	1,185	1,626	1,617	1,608	1,600	1,591	1,582	1,573	1,565	1,556	1,547	1,538	1,538
United States of America	6,486	5,972	5,848	5,725	5,957	6,190	6,423	6,656	6,888	6,888	6,888	6,888	6,888
Uruguay	266	208	197	197	197	197	197	197	197	197	197	197	197
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	681	670	643	671	648	653	676	664	657	670	644	650	628
Yemen	300	100	40	0	0	100	327	359	368	387	328	328	328
Kazakhstan	5,165	4,515	4,548	4,317	4,379	4,725	4,798	4,980	4,547	4,067	4,000	3,878	3,682
Seychelles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iraq	1,099	951	1,005	1,020	1,050	1,079	3,406	3,450	3,361	3,860	1,957	1,202	1,363
Kyrgyzstan	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	2	2	2	2
Malaysia	139	125	127	127	117	119	120	120	120	120	120	120	120
Costa Rica	44	48	48	49	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48
Mongolia	478	307	330	292	305	305	305	261	241	232	217	218	212
Russian Federation	10,465	10,552	9,766	9,727	8,645	8,522	7,906	7,765	7,613	7,620	7,134	7,175	6,829
Tonga	4	7	8	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Czechia	45	45	28	33	24	22	35	30	26	26	25	24	25
Palestine	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	140	174	156	153	255	160	214	262	241	265	224	362	265
Uzbekistan	630	551	528	528	510	500	508	506	500	503	489	477	449
Antigua and Barbuda	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Angola	476	555	601	606	609	619	644	671	664	670	650	636	601
Australia	4,979	4,853	5,769	6,005	5,728	5,905	5,948	5,649	5,721	5,874	5,570	5,639	5,553
Bahamas	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Bahrain	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Barbados	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Benin	178	173	165	178	184	177	180	189	185	193	187	183	177
Brunei Darussalam	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Burundi	60	60	63	64	66	68	70	71	73	75	76	78	80
Cameroon	860	819	793	800	780	766	779	778	769	776	751	735	694
Cabo Verde	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Cambodia	16	17	16	17	17	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17
Central African Republic	270	242	230	232	226	222	226	226	223	225	218	213	201
Chad	563	555	550	600	629	642	653	665	658	663	642	628	593
China	17,463	15,924	15,221	15,182	14,685	14,331	14,479	14,285	13,949	13,884	13,271	12,960	12,229
China, Hong Kong SAR	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Comoros	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7
Congo	71	67	68	68	69	68	69	69	68	69	67	65	62
China, Taiwan Province of	51	52	50	51	49	51	50	48	48	47	48	50	52
Cote d'Ivoire	404	383	371	387	440	432	440	439	434	438	424	415	391
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	339	317	300	303	296	288	291	290	285	287	278	272	257
Democratic Republic of the Congo	967	1,204	1,316	1,480	1,482	1,521	1,565	1,589	1,643	1,688	1,657	1,621	1,530
Djibouti	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dominica	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Dominican Republic	118	106	102	103	101	99	110	110	109	110	106	104	98
Equatorial Guinea	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6
Eritrea	89	91	88	89	87	85	87	87	86	86	84	82	77
Gambia	41	59	58	58	57	56	57	56	55	55	53	52	49
Gabon	47	43	42	42	41	40	41	41	40	41	39	39	36
Grenada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ghana	575	558	547	558	550	546	561	567	566	577	565	558	527
Guinea-Bissau	40	40	38	39	38	37	38	38	37	38	36	36	34
Guyana	61	55	54	54	53	52	53	53	52	53	51	50	47
Honduras	152	134	130	131	128	126	128	128	126	127	123	121	114
Ireland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jamaica	18	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	13
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kenya	760	727	741	748	729	716	729	728	720	726	703	687	649
Kiribati	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kuwait	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Liberia	58	63	64	64	63	62	63	63	62	63	61	59	56
Libya	253	227	219	222	216	212	216	216	213	215	208	204	192
Liechtenstein	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maldives	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Madagascar	433	396	383	387	377	371	377	376	372	375	363	355	336
Malawi	462	462	447	451	446	445	459	466	467	478	470	466	447
Mauritania	65	59	58	58	57	56	57	56	56	56	55	53	50
Mauritius	12	11	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8
Marshall Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Namibia	117	106	102	103	101	99	100	100	99	100	97	95	89
Micronesia (Federated States of)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nigeria	5,163	4,748	4,598	4,643	4,532	4,455	4,534	4,534	4,487	4,556	4,466	4,369	4,124
Oman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New Zealand	61	66	60	66	69	73	60	68	61	65	66	62	69
Papua New Guinea	35	40	39	39	38	39	41	42	43	43	42	41	37
Niger	2,038	1,995	1,994	2,051	2,113	2,075	2,110	2,196	2,196	2,214	2,144	2,097	1,980
Palau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rwanda	86	132	155	178	201	224	222	220	218	161	115	129	113
Saint Lucia	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
San Marino	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sao Tome and Principe	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	2,309	2,213	2,215	2,220	2,157	2,600	2,279	2,376	2,474	2,612	2,866	2,685	2,644
Sierra Leone	212	209	211	190	199	196	199	199	197	198	192	188	177
Singapore	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Solomon Islands	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Somalia	159	145	128	129	138	136	138	138	136	138	133	130	123
Sri Lanka	17	18	20	20	20	20	20	20	21	21	21	20	19
Suriname	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	6
South Sudan				343	329	318	319	314	306	300	290	284	268
Togo	342	325	314	342	333	327	333	333	329	331	321	314	296
Timor-Leste	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2
Trinidad and Tobago	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Turkmenistan	294	256	248	250	244	240	244	243	241	243	235	230	217
Uganda	859	892	876	890	868	852	867	866	856	863	836	818	772
Viet Nam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zambia	394	449	460	490	465	457	465	464	472	475	460	450	425
Zimbabwe	563	528	537	516	503	494	502	502	496	500	485	474	447
Vanuatu	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	2	2	2

Fallow land (thousand hectares)

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