Climate change - which dries out the soil, reduces water resources or raises sea levels - is expected to increase the proportion of such "salty" land from 24 per cent to 32 per cent of the world's surface area by the end of the century, the FAO warns.

Govt trying to bring 'dead' land back into cultivation by growing saline-tolerant crops

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KATUKURUNDA, Sri Lanka — A commando in an elite Sri Lankan police unit, Mr Sameera Dilshan has an unusual mission: to reclaim farms poisoned by salt, a longstanding problem now accelerating due to climate change.

Increasing salinity is slowly and steadily swallowing traditional rice paddies along the island's coastline, taking away the livelihood of generations of farmers.

Two hours' drive south of the capital Colombo lies Katukurunda, one of the camps of the formidable Special Task Force (STF), an elite force created four decades ago to fight Tamil Tiger rebels.

While his colleagues train for riot control under the humid heat of the nearby Indian Ocean, the 35-year-old non-commissioned officer and his "commando-farmer" team are hoeing, weeding and watering.

Their goal? To grow coconut palms and a wide variety of fruit and vegetables in a paddy declared dead 40 years ago due to salt water contamination.

"This plantation was launched in 2022 as part of a government initiative to improve food security," Mr Dilshan said.

The local authorities allocate land parcels for this purpose.

The method, known as "sorjan", is similar to techniques used in Thailand and Indonesia. It reshapes flood-prone land by digging ponds where rice can be grown or fish raised, with more saline-tolerant coconut trees planted.

Embankments around these ponds are used for more delicate crops.