Under the second phase of the Lake Urumia Sustainable Agriculture Project, 75 villages in the lake’s basin were covered, said Mohsen Soleimani Rouzbahani, director of the national project to protect Iran’s wetlands. The project’s main objective is to reduce water consumption and increase farmers’ income by changing the current cropping patterns and providing necessary training, IRNA reported. The technique will result in saving water by at least 35% and help conserve the lake’s water resources. Lake Urumia in northwestern Iran is one of the largest permanent hypersaline lakes in the world and the largest lake in the Middle East.
