Globally, soil salinity constitutes a growing problem that contributes to land degradation with approximately 7% of the earth's land surface having salt-affected soils. The process of increasing the concentration of total dissolved salts in soil and water is known as salinization. It can be caused either by natural processes such as mineral weathering and gradual seawater intrusion or by artificial processes such as irrigation. On a global scale, it has been estimated that every minute 3 ha of currently arable land becomes unproductive due to safinization. It has been quantified that about 100 mha of land have become saline due to poor irrigation management which equals to approximately 11% of irrigated areas worldwide. Soil salinization has severely affected the agricultural production in over half of the world's countries. Countries which are characterized by disproportionately high areas of saline land are Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and several countries in Central Asia.
