Land degradation in the arid, semiarid and sub humid dry areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variation and human activities. This study was carried in semiarid areas both of White Nile State and similar areas north of Gezira area. Rural poor were severely affected by the change in climate and loss of income from agriculture, livestock and land deterioration. The main objective of this study is to investigate the major reasons behind this decline in life standards and think of some pretty good solutions to enhance the whole situation. Four villages were selected randomly from the many villages scattered over all the area.

A questionnaire was distributed to collect answers from the chosen respondents. Analysis was done to the data collected on basis of simple percentages. The main results emerged out are similar almost from all respondents. Land deterioration is the real problem which affects the agricultural production and life stock rearing and hence adversely affecting the life standards. Total family income was meager and very low to support the daily needs. Intervention to combat land degradation is badly needed. Shelterbelts establishment is one of the suitable activities and measures to be adopted by villagers together with the responsible bodies for minimizing land deterioration. Mostly all the communities in the area believe in that shelterbelts establishment helped a lot in raising the standard of living among the rural communities. The study came out with a major recommendation that trees planting must be encouraged in the area together with agro-forestry systems in the agricultural land. A strong extension program should be designed for the people to reach a better degree of awareness and adoption to their lands and the eco-system.