Conflict-linked farmland losses could have fed 255 million people

Researchers found that farmland shrank in areas affected by armed conflict, even as cropland grew worldwide.

They estimate the lost land could have produced enough food energy to meet the minimum yearly needs of about 255 million people.

This is an estimate of food that could have been grown, not a count of people who went hungry.

The study found that farmland losses were worse in longer, more intense conflicts, while areas that became peaceful showed no clear sign of continued decline.