Agriculture in Iran is underdeveloped. While one-third of Iran's total surface area is suitable for farming, due to poor soil and inadequate water distribution, most of it is not cultivated. Less than one-third of the land planted with crops, orchards and vineyards is irrigated; the rest is devoted to dryland farming. The western and northwestern portions of the country have the most fertile soil. Iran's food security index stands at around 96 percent.

3% of the total land area is used for grazing and small-fodder production. Most of the grazing is done on semi-dry rangeland in mountain areas and areas surrounding the large deserts ("Dasht's") of Central Iran.

53 percent of Iran's land is non-agricultural terrain: 39% of the country is covered by deserts, salt flats ("kavirs") and bare-rock mountains, not suited for agricultural purposes. 7% of Iran's total surface is covered by woodlands. 7% is covered by cities, towns, villages, industrial areas and roads.

At the end of the 20th century, agricultural activities accounted for one-fifth of Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) and employed a comparable proportion of the workforce. Most farms are small, less than 25 acres (10 hectares), and are not economically viable, which has contributed to the wide-scale migration to cities. In addition to water scarcity and areas of poor soil, seed is of low quality and farming techniques are antiquated.

All these factors have contributed to low crop yields and poverty in rural areas. Further, after the 1979 revolution many agricultural workers claimed ownership rights and forcibly occupied large, privately owned farms where they had been employed. The legal disputes that arose from this situation remained unresolved through the 1980s, and many owners put off making large capital investments that would have improved farm productivity, further deteriorating production. Progressive government efforts and incentives during the 1990s, however, improved agricultural productivity marginally, helping Iran toward its goal of reestablishing national self-sufficiency in food production.

Land use and irrigation

World average annual rainfall is 800 mm but in Iran the annual rainfall is only 220 mm. Overall, Iran's soil is not well suited for large scale agriculture. About 12 percent of the country's total land area of 1,636,000 km2 is cultivated. Still, 63% of the cultivable lands have not been used, and 185,000 km2 of the present farms are being used with 50 to 60% capacity.

Both irrigated and rain-fed farming are used in Iran. In 2005, some 13.05 million hectares of land were under cultivation, of which 50.45% was allocated to irrigated farming and the remaining 49.55% to rain-fed system. As of 2013, the amount of cultivated land that is irrigated has increased to 8 million hectares, while 10 million hectares remain rain-fed.

+Rainfall & Agricultural Production March 2001 March 2003 March 2005 March 2007 March 2008 March 2009 March 2010 March 2011 Production (Million Ton) 65 80 87 97 92 70 91 99 Rainfall (Millimeter) 52 70 69 62 75 51 61 69

Crops and plants

The wide range of temperature fluctuation in different parts of the country and the multiplicity of climatic zones make it possible to cultivate a diverse variety of crops, including cereals (wheat, barley, rice, and maize (corn)), fruits (dates, figs, pomegranates, melons, and grapes), vegetables, cotton, sugar beets, sugarcane and pistachios (World's largest producer with 40% of the world's output in 2005), nuts, olives, spices e.g. saffron (world's largest producer with 81% of the world's total output), raisin (world's third largest producer & second largest exporter), tea, tobacco, berberis (world's largest producer) and medicinal herbs.Iran Daily - Panorama - 01/18/07 More than 2,000 plant species are grown in Iran; only 100 of which are being used in pharmaceutical industries. The land covered by Iran's natural flora is four times that of Europe.

Wheat, rice, and barley are the country's major crops. The Iranian grain sector is highly regulated. Producers receive subsidised access to input costs such as fertiliser and pesticides, as well as a guaranteed support price for their crops.

Wheat: In 2007 Iran exported close to 600,000 tonnes of wheat (out of a production of 15 million tonnes).Iran Daily: Trade With PGCC To Improve Retrieved April 7, 2008 In 2008, following a drought, Iran imported approximately 7 million tonnes of wheat.

Rice: Iran's total rice production stands at 2.2 million tons per annum whereas annual consumption is about three million tons (2008). Iran has imported about 630,000 tons of rice from UAE, Pakistan and Uruguay worth $271 million in 2008 and 1.4 million tons of rice, worth $800 million in 2009. Iran's rice imports dropped by 40% in 2010. Iran has 3,800 rice milling units (2009). The average per capita consumption of rice in Iran is 45.5 kg, which makes Iranians the 13th biggest rice consumers. Rice is mostly produced in northern Iran. Rice has been cultivated for many years in Mazandaran and Gilan Province of Iran. In Northern Province, many indica rice cultivars including Tarom, Gerdeh, Hashemi, Hasani, Neda and Gharib have been bred by farmers.

Sugar: In 2008, Iran had a shortage of 400,000 tons to 600,000 tons of sugar nationwide. Sugar companies suffered from massive imports of cheap sugar over the past few years, which led to a 50% drop in the capacity of the sugar industry's production in 2008. The lack of import tariffs was the main reason for the domestic sugar industry suffering in this manner.

Pistachio: Iran ranks as the world's largest pistachio producer and exporter followed by USA and Turkey. After oil and carpets, pistachios are Iran's biggest exports: about 200,000 tons for $840 million in 2008. More than 350,000 people earn a living from the nut, most of them in vast groves of the desert oases in southeast.Iran Daily: Pistachio Exports Up Retrieved November 10, 2008 Iran's share in the global pistachio market reached 50 percent in 2010.

Saffron: Saffron is cultivated in many regions of the country, the provinces of North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan in the northeast have the highest production share. Iran's saffron is exported to the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Japan, Turkmenistan, France, Italy and the US. The northeastern Khorasan Razavi province exported 57 tons of saffron worth $156.5 million to 41 countries in 2010.

Tea: Tea production rose to 190,000 tons in 2007 from 130,000 tons in 2004. 75,000 tons of tea is smuggled into Iran each year (2008).

Horticulture: Close to 19 million tons of horticultural crops will be produced by the end of Fourth Plan (2005–10).

Fruits: Iran exported more than 35,000 tons of citrus fruits valued at $20.8 million to 36 countries in 2008. Iran is among the largest producers of berries and stone fruits in the world, especially pomegranates, dates, figs and cherries. See also: Fruit in Iran.

Livestock

Of the country's livestock, sheep are by far the most numerous, followed by goats, cattle, donkeys, horses, water buffalo, and mules. The raising of poultry for eggs and meat is prevalent. One area where production infrastructure has progressed rapidly is the poultry sector. The face of the industry has now been transformed dramatically so that the entire supply chain process can take place domestically.

Production of livestock increased over the past three years to reach 11.3 million tons in 2008 from the 10.6 million tons in 2007, and 9.9 million tons in 2006. Meat processing capacity is at 400,000 tons and 140 production units (2009). In 2008, per capita meat consumption was 26 kg.

Fishing Access to the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and many river basins provides Iran the potential to develop excellent fisheries. The government assumed control of commercial fishing in 1952. One government-owned enterprise, the Northern Sheelat Company, was established in 1952, and a second, the Southern Sheelat Company, was established in 1961. In recent years, illegal and off-season fishing, discharge of industrial and agricultural pollutants, overfishing by other Caspian littoral states, and other unfavorable conditions have endangered Caspian fish resources. Between 1990 and 2004, Iran's total annual Caspian Sea catch declined from 98,000 tons to 32,533 tons, including 463 tons of sturgeon, which yields high-quality caviar.

Iran has 1,786 kilometers of coastline on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. These southern waters are rich in fish and other marine resources. In 2004 the catch off the southern coast totaled 299,000 tons. This represented an average annual increase of 12.6 percent since 1976. The southern catch either is used directly by households and restaurants or processed and preserved by industry. Expansion of the fishery infrastructure would enable the country to harvest an estimated 700,000 tons of fish annually from the southern waters. However, increased pollution from the oil industry and other enterprises poses a serious threat to this area's fishing industry.

Since the Revolution, increased attention has been focused on producing fish from inland waters. Between 1976 and 2004, the combined take from inland waters by the state and private sectors increased from 1,100 tons to 110,175 tons.

Some 692,000 tons of aquatics will be produced across the country by the end of the 2008, of which 236,000 tons would be bred and the rest fished from the sea. Per capita consumption of seafood in Iran will reach 8.5 kg by March 2009 and 10 kg a year later.

Caviar: Iranian caviar export is expected to reach $22 million by March 2009. Iran is the world's largest producer and exporter of caviar in the world, exporting more than 300 tonnes annually.

Forestry

In 2005 Iran's forest area totaled about 11 million hectares, approximately 7 percent of the country's surface area. Adequate rainfall and a favorable climate have created 1.5 million hectares of dense forest in the Caspian region. The remainder is distributed among western forests (3.6 million hectares), southern forests (434,000 hectares), desert forests (620,000 hectares), and forests scattered in other locations. Supervised by the Department of Natural Resources, the Caspian forests produced 820,000 cubic meters of timber products in 2004, more than 90 percent of which was for industrial use. The largest and most valuable woodland areas are in the Caspian region and the northern slopes of the Elburz Mts., where many of the forests are commercially exploitable and include both hardwoods and softwoods. Although forests and pastures are nationalized and 12 percent of forested land is nominally protected, forest destruction by the private sector is routine. Limited forest areas, mismanagement, and destruction have compelled Iran to import lumber and wood products. In addition, forest fires destroy 20,000 hectares of forest area each year. Between 1954 and 2004, an estimated 41 percent of Iran's forest land was lost. According to the former director of Iran's Department of Environment (Iran), the rate of destruction of forestland amounts to 100,000 hectares per year.

History

Agriculture has a long history and tradition in Iran. As early as 10,000 BCE, the earliest known domestication of the goat had taken place in the Iranian plateau. By 5000BCE, wine was being fermented in Iran, and by as early as 7th century CE, the windmill had been invented in Persia for the first time in history.