iran: country report

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Dr J. PourhemmatVice Minister and Head,

Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension(AREEO)

Country Report, Islamic Republic of Iran

Overview of the national agricultural sector (1)

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Islamic Republic of Iran is located in arid and semi arid zones of West Asia, with an average annual precipitation of 250 mm. The country has a total area of 165 million ha, of which around 37 million ha are arable land, 84 million ha rangelands, 14 million ha forests and the rest wastelands, deserts, mountains and lakes. 18.5 million ha out of 37 million ha is currently under cultivation including 8.5 million ha (%46) irrigated and 10 million ha (%54) rainfed. Irrigated agriculture consumes more than %85 of total available fresh water resources.


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Some 28 agroclimatic zones have been differentiated, of which only six (arid-cool winter-warm summer, arid-cool winter-very warm summer, arid-mild winter-very warm summer, semi arid-cold winter-warm summer, semi arid-cool winter-warm summer, and semi arid-cold winter-mild summer) occupy nearly 90% of Iran.

However, country benefits from favorable conditions for producing vast variety of tropical, sub- tropical and alpine crops. Despite unjustified sanctions imposed to Islamic Republic of Iran, enormous potentials and capacities and a wide range of development projects merged with hard efforts of farmers and producers have made Iran’s agricultural ranking among the top 10 producer of 23 crops.


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The agricultural sector remains one of the most important economic sectors in Iran. This sector accounts for around %16 of GDP and %22 of employment, while providing %90 of food supply, %20 of non-oil exports, and %85 of raw materials used in agro-industry.

Last year Iran produced 107 million tons of agricultural products, while it was around 30 million before Islamic revolution period of time.


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By the time being Iran is the main producer of saffron, pistachio, caviar, barberry, berries, and holds the ranking of second to tenth in producing apricot, dates, water melon, cantaloupe, cherries, apple, cucumber sheep meat, quince, almond, walnut, wool, vegetables, hops, peas, milk, tomato, grapes, onion, black cherry, kiwi, milk, spices, peach, tangerine, lime and lemon, citrus, squash, winter squash, lentil, tea, honey and persimmons.

In spite of decline in world grain production and successive drought, Iran has increased 3.6 million tons of its grains production reaching to 19.5 tons in 2010. Wheat has been the main grain produced in 2010 in Iran with a 3.2 million tons surge and reaching to 13 million tons in 2010.


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Wheat is the major crop in the country, where it is grown on 6.4 million hectares. Irrigated wheat covers one-third of the total wheat area but accounts for more than two-thirds of the total wheat production. Iran has attained self-sufficiency in wheat production for the first time since past 40 years during the 2003-2004. This testifies the successful adoption of effective soil and crop management practices combined with improved cultivars for increasing the welfare of rural communities in dry areas of Iran through the sustainable use of land and water resources. The participation of farmers, researchers, and extension workers in the testing, demonstration and dissemination of improved technologies has led to better awareness of the technology and to its adoption by a large number of farmers.

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Water used in different sectors

7

Sectors Consumption(×109 m3 )

Consumption(%)

By 2020

(×109 m3)

By 2020(%)

Agriculture 85.2 92.1 99.7 85.3

Urban and industry

6.2 6.7 8.7 7.4

Environment - - 6.3 5.4

Miscellaneous 1.1 1.2 2.3 1.9

Total 92.5 100 117.0 100

Overall irrigation efficiency is 38% which is lower than the world’s average irrigation efficiency but, water productivity is roughly 1.25 kg.m3 which is good.

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Structure of Water in Iran

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There are several water related research institutes (e.g. AERI , SWRI in Ministry of Agriculture or TAMAB in Ministry of Energy), research centers, water departments in the Universities, and Consultant Engineers Companies (private sector) (e.g. Mahab-e Ghods) also have an important role in this regard.

There are totally 49 Research/ Education institutes related to water and 14 research institutes specifically on water research, 25 societies on water or agriculture, 47 consultant engineers in water, and 178 manufacturing and or design companies in irrigation (specially in pressurized irrigation systems).

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Structure of Water in Iran

Strategic goals and duties Integrated study of basins (watersheds) Land consolidation, on-farm improvements,

and infrastructure activities in farms and orchards for efficient use of agricultural inputs, especially water

Management of water delivery in tertiary and lower order irrigation canals and their O&M activities

Study and execute small scale water supply development projects (following permission of Ministry of Energy) 9

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The proposed structure of national management of water

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For optimum use of water allocated to the farmers, the following policies are considered:

• Control of water resources and volumetric allocation of water to the farms based on crops water requirement and recommended irrigation efficiencies.

• Based on the established law (established in 1983) water charge of the regulated surface water is between 1-3% of value of the cultivated crops

• Based on the established law (Dec., 1993), water pumping from groundwater resources must be in accordance with the crop water requirement and proposed cropping pattern in each region. In this case, 0.25-1.0% of the commercial value of crop yield is considered for the ground water supervision.

• Subsidizing policies for water charging and supervision charging for farmers who their yields are higher than average.

• Termination of water allocation to the farmers who in two successive years consumed water more than permissible level.

• Encouraging policies for the farmers who use less water and maintain their production in reasonable level using proper management practices.

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Equitable Distribution of Water Law

• This Law is one of the important national acts on water policies in Iran (After Islamic Revolution)

• (the law was approved by parliament in 1982 and later some modifications were made in the law)

• The Law consists of five chapters, 52 article and 27 notes

The chapters are:

Public and national ownership of waterGround water resourcesSurface water resourcesDuties and authoritiesPenalties and regulations

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Some important articles inEquitable Distribution of Water Law• Authority of conservation, permission and oversight to use of

water is by the Government• Use of ground water resources needs permission of Ministry of

Energy• The wells should be equipped with water measuring devices• Allocation and permission of water resources utilization (for

different usages including agriculture) is by the Ministry of Energy

• Distribution of agricultural water, water fee collection, and oversight charges to ground waters are by the Ministry of Agriculture

• Operation and Maintenance of main and secondary canals is the Ministry of Energy task while O&M of tertiary and lower order canals (lined or earth channels) is by the Ministry of Agriculture

• The ministry of Energy should determine the water price for all types of consumption and to receive it from the water users. The water users are subject to pay for it, otherwise the water distribution to them will be terminated

• The executive manual of this law should be prepared by the two responsible ministries (Ministries of Energy and Agriculture) and following its approval by the government will be applicable

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14

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Are

a (1

000*

ha)

Year

Microitionrrig

Sprinkle Irrigation

Development of pressurized irrigation (1990-2010) (Department of Soil and Agricultural Water)

• The existing surface of pressure irrigated land is about 1 million hectares• The annual plan is 200 thousand hectares• Prediction of 1 million hectares in the 5th development plan of country

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Based on budget law (2011):

85% of the costs of pressurized irrigation covers

by government

Agricultural Issues in the Karkheh River Basin

(Case study)

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Geographical location and boundaries of the basin

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Distribution of irrigated and rainfed lands in KRB

CodeTotal Area

(Km2)%

Mountain(Km2)

Plain(Km2)

1 11459 22.6 6220 5039

2 5350 10.5 2547 2803

3 16411 32.3 11914 4497

4 8955 17.7 5811 3144

5 8589 16.9 953 7636

Total 50764 100 27645 23119

Total arable Land in Karkheh basin=1064085 ha

Plain and mountain-side

CodeTotal(ha)

Irrigated(ha)

Rain-Feed(ha)

Remained(ha)

1 503900 136101 186716 181083

2 280300 27605 136588 116107

3 449700 48963 344462 56275

4 314400 54331 221157 38912

5 763600 111164 5201 647235

Total 2311900 378164 894124 1039612Total area under irrigated and rain feed crops is

1272288 ha and percentage of lands under irrigatedcrops is %30 and rain feed crops is %70

Plain and mountain-side

CodeTotal(ha)

Irrigated(%)

Rain-Feed(%)

Remained(%)

1 503900 27 37.05 35.95

2 280300 9.85 48.75 41.4

3 449700 10.9 76.6 12.5

4 314400 17.3 70.3 12.4

5 763600 14.6 0.7 84.7

Total 2311900

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Irrigation and water consumption in the Basin The common method of irrigation in the Basin is surface irrigation (basin and furrow).

Irrigation efficiencies in the plains and Sub-Basins of KRB varies between 28-36%. As a general, in the regions which farmers only use ground water it is higher and inversely and in the regions which mainly use surface water resources it is quite low.

The rate of irrigation water consumption per hectare in the Sub-Basins varies. The highest amount is in Kashkan Sub-Basin (due to more frequent irrigation and low irrigation efficiency) and it is about 12000 CM/ha and the lowest amount is in Seymareh Sub-Basin and is about 9800 CM/ha.

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Problems and Limitations of the KRB

• High irrigation losses and low irrigation efficiency (Conveyance and Distribution) due to lack of investment on infrastructures.

• Lack of farmers knowledge and skills and inappropriate use of resources and agricultural inputs including water, fertilizer, pesticide, improved seeds, and machinery.

• Lack of enough research about on-farm activities, plant improvement, and soil fertility.

• In appropriate land use (irrigated and rain-fed) in some parts of the basin.

• Sever water scarcity in some basins, e.g. Seymareh.

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Problems and Limitations of the KRB (Cont’d)

• Water logging and drainage requirement in the lands which are irrigated by the irrigation networks especially Salinity hazard in south regions of the basin.

• Irrigation networks in the basin are not in satisfactory condition and O&M in the systems is poor.

• Traditional irrigation networks also are in poor condition and are the major factor for water losses and land degradation.

• Agricultural activities, except in some cases are mostly traditional and not adopted to new technologies.

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• Agricultural units are small scale (50.2 % of the basin beneficiaries have small scale farms ( less than 5 ha ).This together with its scatter in some regions causes waste of efforts, loss of water and agricultural inputs, and finally low production.

• Pressurized irrigation systems (mostly sprinkler system) are not efficiently used and in most cases they are replaced by surface irrigation method again due to inappropriate design, lack of service and spare parts, and in most cases due security requirements.

• Low interest of private sector for investment in agriculture especially in soil and water related activities due to low rate of investment return in comparison to other activities in other sectors.


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• There is no irrigation association or institution among farmers because of cultural problems. Some farmers cultivate their farms just for social ethics.

• Low administration and organizational development for efficient use of skilled technique and human resources for agricultural production.

• The farmers of the Basin are mostly uneducated and old.

• Villages in the basin are too scattered therefore service to them is difficult.

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• There is no irrigation association or institution among farmers because of cultural problems. Some farmers cultivate their farms just for social ethics.

• Low administration and organizational development for efficient use of skilled technique and human resources for agricultural production.

• The farmers of the Basin are mostly uneducated and old.

• Villages in the basin are too scattered therefore service to them is difficult.

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Problems especially in dry-land areas of the Basin:

• Low water productivity of the dry land farming.

• Inappropriate land preparation in dry-land farming.

• Inappropriate cultivation methods. • Lack of suitable and specialized machine for

dry-land farming.

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Some Lessons from IRAN-ICARDA Joint Research in KRB

Farm Level:

- Promoting more productive farm level practices.

- Matching crops to soil and water conditions.

- Micro-irrigation.

- Deficit Irrigation.

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Basin Level:

- Water resources development.

- Groundwater monitoring and regulation.

- Soil salinity monitoring.

- Monitoring and the development of a central coordinated database.


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Policy Issues:

- Drought Insurance schemes.

- Water allocation between sectors.

- Establishment of a strong basin level water management authority.

- Training.


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Some Lessons from IRAN-ICARDA Joint Research in KRB by implementing 2 CP projects

1- Improving on-farm agricultural water productivity in the KRB.

2- Strengthening livelihood

resilience in upper catchments areas by integrated natural resources management

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Achievements

Options for improved WP in rainfed and irrigated areas at the farm and the basin:

developed through SI, deficit irrigation, full irrigation and salinity management

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Thank you for your kind attention

Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome

iran: country report

Technology