Controlling the runoff in northern Mazandaran Province is essential and can have added economic benefit as water can be used for rice cultivation, managing director of the Regional Water Company said.
“Haraz Dam [under construction] has the capacity to control about 14% of the province's surface water and can positively affect the farming community in the region,” IRNA quoted Mohammad Ebrahim Yakhkeshi as saying.
When operational the dam will help cut rice import, he said. Iran is among the major rice importers in the world.
Haraz Dam is designed to feed 110,000 hectares, mostly paddy fields, drinking water for 14 cities and 500 villages. It will also help a 25-megawatt hydropower plant annually generate 170 gigawatt hours.
The dam is being built on Haraz River that flows northward from the foot of Mount Damavand across Larijan, through Amol City, and finally to the Caspian Sea between Mahmoudabad and Fereydoun-Kenar cities. It can store 650 million cubic meters of water.
“Construction of the dam, located 20 km south of Amol, started in 2009. But work has been slow due to funding constraints,” Yakhkeshi said.
There are 230,000 hectares of paddy fields in the northern province, producing one million tons of rice per annum or 42% of the need.
An estimated 2.9 million tons of rice was produced in Iran in the last Iranian year (March 2019-20), registering a 45% increase compared to the previous year.
The increase was largely due to favorable weather and heavy precipitation in February and March of that year, because of which land under rice cultivation increased by 38% or 834,000 hectares.
Latest figures released by the Statistical Center of Iran show per capita rice consumption in the country is 35 kilograms.
Iranians consume 3.5 million tons of rice per annum while domestic production is 2.9 million tons.
The country has been importing rice India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Iraq and the UAE. Every year during the rice harvest season, the government bans rice imports to support local farmers.
“By controlling the surface water in Mazandaran, 300,000 tons of rice can be added to the annual output,” Yakhkeshi added
Regarding potable water in the province, the official said 95% of the drinking water comes from groundwater sources, the quality of which has been declining every year.
Agricultural and environment experts have persistently called on the government to restrict rice farming to water-rich provinces and ban growing this crop in all other parts of the country. But all the appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
Former agriculture minister Mahmoud Hojjati said last year amid low precipitation and deepening water crisis, the government was going to place restrictions on the cultivation of crops in areas where underground water resources have dropped to alarming levels. Later, the Cabinet verified the restrictions.
According to the decision, rice cultivation was restricted for three years, as farmers would not receive any facilities or support from the government in provinces other than Gilan and Mazandaran during this period (until 2023). After three years, there will be an all-out ban on rice cultivation, except in Gilan and Mazandaran.
