Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in the world. It provides food for the growing world populations while also creating employment opportunities. This sector, however, is greatly threatened by climate change, increased water scarcity, droughts, land degradation and poor management of resources. The state of drylands in the world raises great concern given that it largely affects third world countries particularly subsistence farmers. This raises questions with regards to the extent of drylands and the progression of land degradation and water availability. This article presents current efforts to track development of land degradation and developing systems that improve agricultural productivity in drylands. Our review finds that given the climatic and environmental threats to agricultural productivity suitable solutions such as improved research and resource management can lead to increased production for food security and even commercialization. Therefore, it is imperative to allow access to advanced technology to subsistence farmers.