Vast areas of prime agricultural land lie fallow.
Swathes of fertile land lie empty, since the development of Sudan has been largely limited to Khartoum.
Desperate to feed their families, they could not afford to let their land lie fallow or to fertilize it.
For centuries African farmers allowed for this by letting the land lie fallow for eight or nine years after a harvest.
The Romans knew about crop rotation, but by the Middle Ages, farming was based on the practice of letting the land lie fallow, unplanted — resting it, in other words.
Most Palestinian Jewish farmers and herdsmen, however, earned enough to support their families, pay their taxes, offer sacrifices during one or more annual festivals, and let their land lie fallow in the sabbatical years, when cultivation was prohibited.
This autumn, Israel begins the one year in seven when Jewish farmers are meant to let their land lie fallow; observant Jews will not eat food from Jewish farmers who break the ban.
The resources on land lie within clearly delineated borders and those under the sea which include an estimated 83 billion barrels of oil, more than Russia's proven reserves today are largely in shallow waters within the uncontested jurisdiction of coastal states.
