TEHRAN - Agriculture Minister Seyyed Javad Sadatinejad has actually made some remarks on production of standard crops such as wheat and rice.
The view of the federal government is self-sufficiency in wheat and rice, Sadatinejad stated in an interview posted on the hamshahrionline.ir on August 31.
His views to end up being self-sufficient in production of wheat is affordable if specific regulations are observed.
Likewise, his remarks about the need to develop greenhouses were encouraging.However, he has likewise discussed the need to attain self-sufficiency in rice production, which is injudicious and even hazardous.
Sadatinejad has actually put the annual rice intake in the nation at 3 million heaps that now one million lots of it is imported.The minister has likewise boasted about a 20-percent boost in rice production in the current agricultural year.Sadatinejad need to be advised of particular bottom lines.
He needs to know that currently about 20 provinces across Iran are growing paddy fields at the expense of draining pipes groundwaters and completely draining pipes the remaining water under the sands.Though the rice produced in provinces besides those surrounding the Caspian Sea is not that much, even that amount has triggered and is triggering irreversible damages.
The level of underground waters has been going down alarmingly and lots of wells have actually completely dried up.To compensate for water shortages, farmers are digging deeper wells to bring water to the surface.
Sadly, the high rate of rice has actually made farmers more ambitious in depleting up underground water.
Numerous of these wells have not been authorized by the agriculture and energy ministries.
To keep the wells hidden, some have been collected in yard of houses and pump waters to the lands.
These 2 ministries understand these unlawful wells but do nothing.Such excessive usage of underground waters is creating a scenario in which these agricultural lands can not later be utilized for growing other crops such as wheat, rice, and other grains.
Land subsistence in specific areas of the nation that have actually arised from deficiency of underground waters are prior to our eyes.
Land subsistence in Isfahan province is a concrete example.
These occurrences are worrying.
Some have actually even alerted that some villages might be submerged due to land subsistence in certain parts of the country.Moreover, the agriculture minister need to know that a significant number of farmers in northern provinces, specifically Mazandaran, are growing rice two times a year, which is rather unadvisable.Farmers in the provinces bordering the Caspian Sea are also utilizing underground water in the hot of the summer season and other times to water their paddy fields to the degree that experts are warning that if by doing this continues, in coming years it might not even be possible to grow rice in these provinces.Some of our coworkers in the newspaper, who are from Caspian Sea provinces, are saying some farmers even did not have sufficient water to water the paddy fields at the start of the spring.
They are also stating the level of underground waters in northern provinces are decreasing and farmers are required to dig much deeper wells to irrigate their paddy fields.In view of the truths on the ground, self-sufficiency in rice production may cost Iran dearly.Another important point that the minister should also be advised of is that cultivation of onion in countless hectares of agricultural lands in the nation, especially in western and northwestern provinces, is another big jolt to water resources.
Sadatinejad and his colleagues are aware that onion is an extremely water intensive crop and duration of its growing has to do with a minimum of six months.
Growing of onion is among the perpetrators for the current situation surrounding the passing away Urmia Lake.
Add frequent droughts to these mistakes as growing of water intensive crops is going on unabated.It is needed to remember that short-term gains will cause long-term costs and permanent damages.