Preventing Land-Use Change and Protecting Agricultural Land Is Essential

The Deputy for Water and Soil at the Ministry of Jihad-e Agriculture, pointing to the impacts of urban and rural development on agricultural lands, said: 'The Ministry of Jihad-e Agriculture alone cannot manage all the issues arising from this development. Therefore, coordination among the responsible agencies is essential to prevent land-use change and protect agricultural lands.'

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan, Jafar G. Harkani, today at the 8th National Conference on Soil and Watershed Protection, which was held under the auspices of the TAT organization, emphasized the necessity of simultaneous protection of water and soil resources and said: Water and soil are interconnected resources, and soil degradation can also affect the state of the country's water resources. Because the soil is one of the water reserves and its destruction can aggravate the problems related to water resources. Therefore, water and soil issues should be considered together.

Referring to the state of the country's irrigated lands, he added: Out of the total 8 million hectares of Iran's irrigated lands, about 6.8 million hectares are facing restrictions such as salinity, soil erosion, reduction of organic matter and destruction of soil structure, and only 1.2 million hectares of these lands do not have the aforementioned restrictions.

Emphasizing the importance of protecting fertile lands, the Deputy Minister of Water and Soil of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad said: soil restrictions can affect the amount of production and sustainability of agricultural activities; Therefore, accurate knowledge of land conditions and planning to reduce these restrictions should be considered.

Stating that Iran has about 18.5 million hectares of agricultural land, Goharkani said: Of this amount, about eight million hectares are irrigated and 10.5 million hectares are rainfed. Also, per capita agricultural land in the country is estimated at 0.16 hectares.

He considered the decrease in soil fertility, increase in salinity, erosion, decrease in organic matter and soil pollution among the challenges affecting the quality and productive capacity of agricultural lands and emphasized the necessity of protecting the production capacity of these lands.

The Deputy Minister of Water and Soil of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad also stated, referring to the consequences of urban and rural development on agricultural lands: the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad alone cannot manage all the issues caused by this development; Therefore, coordination between the responsible agencies is necessary to prevent the change of use and protect agricultural lands.

Goharkani also said about the amount of soil erosion in the country: the existing estimates about the amount of soil erosion have significant differences and the figures proposed vary from about one billion tons to more than four billion tons per year. This difference shows that more serious planning should be done for a more accurate assessment of the soil erosion situation and to identify the factors affecting it.

Referring to the gap between the rate of soil erosion and the rate of its natural formation, he emphasized the necessity of protecting this valuable resource and added: continued erosion can reduce the productive capacity of agricultural lands and challenge the sustainability of agricultural production.

In the end, this official considered integrated policies in the fields of water, soil, forests, environment and watersheds as necessary to achieve common goals and emphasized the need for coordination between different sectors in the management and protection of the country's natural resources.