Head of the Department of Environment Isa Kalantari warned about the environmental implications of a national food self-sufficiency policy, singling out an escalating water crisis.
"We still keep insisting on the need to produce all our food domestically, which means further encroachment on nature. Urmia Lake and wetlands in the south are some of the victims of such mismanagement," Kalantari said in an interview with state radio on Tuesday, a day ahead of the World Population Day.
A combination of high population and rising food consumption has strained Iran's natural resources and little has been done to deal with the situation.
"At the current rate of productivity, we can produce enough food to meet the requirements of 50 million people and we are importing the remainder. This is while we are already among the countries with the highest rate of water consumption for agriculture," Kalantari said.
He noted that while the agricultural sector is draining the water supplies to the breaking point, Iran remains heavily dependent on food imports.
"The agricultural industry is exploiting 85% of the country's water resources, yet we are importing the food requirements of nearly half of the population."
Need to Change Tack
He underscored the need to abandon the existing inefficient approach to farming and called for altering the general policies.
"The agricultural sector should not be allowed to deplete all the underground water resources. Regrettably, some are trying to preserve the current prevailing farming approach at any cost. Large-scale policies need changing," the DOE head said.
"We need to recognize that we are facing a water shortage and lack enough resources to provide for a growing population."
An article in the Sixth Development Plan (2016-2021) requires self-sufficiency in food products by 95%.
This, according to Kalantari, would require the supply of over 35 million cubic meters of farming water which is not possible with the country's shrinking resources.
Water scarcity has already sparked sporadic public protests in some southern and central cities that have been experiencing increasingly frequent, hours-long water outages or have suffered a shortage of clean and drinkable water.
Kalantari regretted the lack of ecological planning for the country which would determine the natural capacities of a region based on which development projects could be initiated in a sustainable way. He insisted that population growth and self-sufficiency policies cannot be adopted at the same time.
July 11 is marked as World Population Day to raise awareness of global population issues. Food security is among the primary challenges appearing with the growth of population.
