One of the sectors of economy, which has been paid special attention to by the officials, is agriculture. This sector was damaged seriously during the Pahlavi regime.
As a result of US-dictated policies, within 15 years Iran turned from a slef-sufficient country in agriculture into an importer of these products worth $2.6 billion. $2 billion of this figure was imported from the US. 30% of farmers lost their job and many of them migrated to cities with the hope of finding better jobs. However, they couldn’t find jobs properly and just added to the problems of cities and towns. On the other hand, villages became devoid of agriculture while they were already poor and in dire conditions.
After the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, addressing the problems of villages were prioritized and, despite sanctions, war and other problems, efforts continued for improvement of the farmers’ conditions.
As the Islamic Revolution triumphed, villagers were stimulated to work more as they considered the revolution their own revolution. The government, too, helped them as much as it could. Meanwhile, the main factor for improvement of their situation was the presence of volunteer forces who rushed to villages without any expectation. Upon the order of Imam Khomeini, 4 months after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, these people were mobilized in the form of an organization called, “Jahad-e Sazandegi” (Construction Jihad) and rendered enormously to uprooting of depravity in different parts of the country. This trend is continued by devoted youths under the title of jihadi groups who are mainly university students. It should be noted that the word jihadi here is absolutely different from the connotation of the word among most of the westerners. It means volunteer youths who rush to help their fellow-countrymen in poor and deprived regions with whatever skill and specialty they have. For the past 4 decades, agriculture has made great progress in Iran. The rate of production of crops has increased five times which means it has reached from 2 tons to 120 million tons. This, while Iran’s population was 35 million in the last year of the Pahlavi regime while it is more than 80 million now.
The Islamic Republic now exports some of these crops and got $6 billion revenues last year. Approximately 90% of the main crops like wheat, rice and barley are produced inside the country. The Islamic Republic has reached self-sufficiency in wheat with a production of more than 14 million tons per year. Rice is the second strategic crop while over 80% of the internal need is secured internally. In general, the production of grains has increased dramatically, so that Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) announced that Iran’s production of grains is 20 million tons annually and it is the second country in West Asia in this respect. The report of FAO shows that Iran has had a remarkable growth in production of sugar cane and beet roots, too. As Iran is considered a semi-dry country, the officials have been seeking to boost production via improvement of irrigation system, modification of plants, better use of mechanized and modern equipment and education of farmers.
As for garden products and production of fruits, the Islamic Republic has gained spectacular achievements. Thus, their production has increased more than five times compared with the pre-revolution period. According to the FAO report, Iran is the 8th country in the field of production of fruits and vegetables. The Islamic Republic ranks first in production of pistachio, saffron and pomegranate, second in production of dates, and fourth in production of apple. Currently, a big variety of Iranian fruits is exported to other countries. Moreover, the production of vegetables and summer crops has increased more than 4 times after the Islamic Revolution.
In terms of rural development, notable measures have been taken so that the structure and appearance of many villages have changed. While nearly 20% of villages had access to healthy and hygienic water in Pahlavi period, now over 80% of villages enjoy healthy and pure water.
As for electricity, a great progress has been made as almost all villages have joined the power grid. Electricity is not only used in the houses of villagers, they also use it for their agricultural machinery, animal husbandry and poultry houses.
Furthermore, 81% of villages across the country have been joined to gas grid and their roads have been developed in quality and quantity. Almost 120 thousand kilometers of rural roads, while half of them are asphalted, shows that great efforts have been made.
Plus, nearly 4 million rural houses were repaired and reconstructed as they were almost dilapidated. During the Pahlavi regime, most of the villages had no telephone; while presently, almost all villages have access to radio, TV, set telephone and cell-phone and the rate of internet access is more than 55% in them.
Health is another sector which has been improved rapidly after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Now, more than 95% of villages enjoy primary health and hygiene services and rural health houses have increased from 1350 to 20,000. Life expectancy has got to almost 75% among villagers. Literacy rate has increased from minus 30% to plus 75%. Now, more than 500 thousand villagers are studying at universities.
Another sector of economic progress is animal husbandry. After the Islamic Revolution, the production of different types of livestock meat has more than doubled while the population has increased from 35 to 80 million. Last year more than 10 million liters of milk were produced in Iran which was used for making of a variety of dairy products and the surplus was exported. Poultry houses have also increased dramatically after the Islamic Revolution. The production of poultry meat has got from 260 thousand to 2 million tons annually and egg production has increased six times, namely 900 thousand tons which is the 12th rank in the world.
Fishery is another industry which has been developed after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution. This, while during the Shah’s regime the annual production in this sector was merely 32 thousand tons. But now it has reached more than 1,100,000 tons or 35 times more than before.
The last but not least, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made strenuous efforts in the field of preservation of forests and nature. Many endeavours have been made to safeguard these God-given bounties and also water resources.
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