Even on planet Earth many places are not arable:
https://www.mapsofworld.com/thematic-maps/arable-land-map.ht...
https://www.mapsofworld.com/thematic-maps/arable-land-map.ht...
It's the same nonsensical reasoning behind putting solar panels in places where they don't make sense. I remember france putting money in a solar panel road that was both ridiculously overpriced and ridiculously ineffective for reasons completely predictable. Of course places where solar panels made sense were in essence still barely utilised. Someone just made a lot of money off of the invented scarcity.