Over the last two decades, FAO has developed and successfully applied the agro-ecological zones (AEZ)
methodology and supporting software packages to analyse solutions to various problems of land
resources for planning and management for sustainable agricultural development at regional, national
and sub-national levels. The issues addressed include linking land-use outputs with other development
goals in such areas as food production, food self sufficiency, cash crop requirements, issues of soil
fertility constraints, soil erosion risks and land degradation.