The Roman farming areas get plenty of rain, even today. The Med. coasts of Algeria and Morocco. Agriculture could do very well, properly managed. Israel does very well in much drier conditions.
The Roman farming areas get plenty of rain, even today. The Med. coasts of Algeria and Morocco. Agriculture could do very well, properly managed
—
I don’t know about the amount of rainfall at present vs 2500 years ago, but the land is arid, not desert. However, during the muscleman conquest of North Africa, they salted much of the land and used vast herds of goats to strip all vegetation. How much has recovered?
Libya, under Qaddafi, was beginning to change things for the better by building The Great Man-Made River to irrigate vast areas of the country (would have been the largest irrigation project ever built anywhere); but Hillary’s war destroyed the project and now warlords fight over the spoils.
Seawater desalination prices have been falling. In another decade or so these prices will fall low enough for desert farming. then the world will change.