Cropping patterns will be observed on close to 60% of Iranian farmlands in the current Iranian year (started March 21), a deputy agriculture minister said.
“We have around 12 million hectares of farmlands across Iran and the country plans to cultivate 15 agricultural products based on cropping pattern on nearly 60% of the total land area,” Alireza Mohajer was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The main crops to be cultivated as per the cropping pattern are wheat, barley, two kinds of corn, rice, sugarbeet and different kinds of pulses, he added.
The success of cropping pattern does not depend on the Agriculture Ministry alone. Farmers are the owners of land and many state bodies have to extend facilities such as subsidized fertilizers, good seeds and cheap banking facilities, to name a few.
Mohajer noted that the ministries of industries and economy, as well as the Central Bank of Iran and the Management and Planning Organization of Iran need to get involved in cultivation based on cropping patterns to guarantee its success.
Cropping pattern refers to the proportion of land under the cultivation of different crops at different points of time. It determines the time and arrangement of crops in a particular land area.
According to Deputy Agriculture Minister Mohammad Qorbani, the project is aimed at increasing the production of essential goods and reducing the cultivation of water-intensive crops.
“We are planning to do this by restricting the land under cultivation of vegetables and levying export taxes on these products,” he said, adding that the ministry has considered incentives for farmers who opt for the production of the above-mentioned crops.
Qorbani noted that vegetables are farmed on over 714,000 hectares, of which 26.6 million tons of products are harvested every year and about 8.4 million tons worth $5.2 billion are exported.
Experts have been warning for years against the cultivation of water-intensive crops, saying that Iran is a dry country with limited arable land and it needs to focus on using its limited water and soil resources to produce essential goods.
According to Mohajer, the main hurdle facing the implementation of cropping pattern in Iran is the ongoing market dynamics.
“When farmers see that the potato market is much more profitable than that of wheat, they decide to cultivate potato, which requires more water,” he said.
He says the Agriculture Ministry cannot force farmers to stick to the cropping pattern, adding that the government can only offer incentives.
“Farmers usually prefer to cultivate vegetables instead of essential crops because they are much more expensive in the consumer market. This is while these products are way more water-intensive than most grains,” he said.
“Another reason for farmers favoring vegetable cultivation is the export prices of these products. Vegetables are more expensive than grains in the markets of neighboring countries, which make exports of these goods more profitable.”
Mohajer said that for the cropping pattern program to be successful as of September, all government bodies, including the Energy Ministry and the Industries, Mining and Trade Ministry, need to cooperate closely.
