Overview: ‘Uncertainty in Iran’s Food Future’—A Payame Ma Perspective
Mrs. Maedeh Salimi, a Sustainable Agriculture Researcher, in Discussion with Mrs. Fatemeh Babakhani, Secretary of the Payame Ma Ecology Department
This section provides a summary of the key highlights from the conversation, with a link to the full article at the bottom. The original text is in Persian.
“If this approach continues, agriculture will disappear in many regions of Iran, leaving no clear vision for food production, the preservation of agricultural heritage systems, or biodiversity”
This is the statement of Maedeh Salimi, a researcher in sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. She emphasises that the agricultural system must evolve in response to global shifts and national and local needs. To address existing challenges, Iran must harness its territorial, ecological, and climatic diversity—changes that can only be realised through a serious shift in approach and improved performance from the Ministry of Agriculture.
What is Agricultural Heritage?
Simply put, from the moment humans set foot in nature, they sought to meet their basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, and security—through their surroundings. This effort fostered a sustainable relationship with the environment. To continue surviving, humans adapted and altered nature, shaping livelihood systems rooted in knowledge and experience, tailored to the climate, and built for long-term sustainability.
These systems became so enduring that biological, social, economic, and cultural elements intertwined within them. Recognising the significance of traditional agricultural systems, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) launched the GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) initiative in the early 21st century, with a special focus on smallholder and family farmers.
Legacy agricultural systems are the product of thousands of years of experience, adaptation, and continuous coexistence between humans and nature. While these systems still exist in many parts of Iran, they have nearly disappeared in others. This decline is not due to farmers’ choices but rather the development patterns introduced in Iran during the 1960s. These models were often implemented without considering the climatic, geographical, and social characteristics of different regions, leading to the transformation—or even destruction—of indigenous farming systems.
In areas where modern development took hold, traditional agricultural methods were abandoned. However, in regions where the new models failed to adapt to specific climatic and geographical conditions, the legacy systems have remained intact.
The key point is that legacy agricultural systems are deeply complex and interconnected. If even a single component is disrupted, such as the loss of production territory or the elimination of ecosystem services, the entire system, along with its sustainability, is put at risk.
The current issues observed in some Iranian plains, including soil degradation, water shortages, and inefficient industrial agriculture, stem directly from the replacement of indigenous systems with unsuitable development models.
How Do Agricultural Biodiversity and Seeds Contribute to Food Security in the Face of Climate Change?
In the context of climate change, agriculture faces significant challenges—reduced yields, instability in crop production, altered flowering periods, shifting rainfall patterns, and disruptions in planting and harvesting schedules. Additionally, the emergence of new pests and diseases, along with extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, heat waves, and untimely cold spells, underscores the urgency of adaptation.
Predictions for Iran are clear: the country will become hotter and drier, though the precise intensity and scope of these changes remain uncertain. In such conditions, conventional plant breeding systems, focused on developing seeds with specific traits, are ill-equipped to address climate change-related challenges. Continuing seed development through traditional methods will not provide an adequate solution for climate adaptation in agriculture.
Climate change is a gradual, long-term process. Allowing genetic diversity to exist naturally within different microclimates and micro-ecosystems enables populations to adapt to new climatic conditions through natural genetic mechanisms.
In the face of climate change—both in Iran and globally—the first step toward resilience is restoring agricultural biodiversity at both the species and genetic levels. Time is of the essence; we cannot afford to wait until the diversity that once existed disappears completely, leaving us without solutions.
Seeds are the most critical input for farmers, and they must have access to them. Effective collaboration between farmers, plant breeding experts, agricultural promoters, universities, and government institutions, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and its research institutes, is essential in ensuring sustainable agricultural practices and biodiversity conservation.
Beyond food security, we must broaden our focus to include food sovereignty. While food security can be achieved through the importation of agricultural products, food sovereignty ensures that a country retains control over the production, distribution, and consumption of its food. This control extends to the management of genetic diversity, seeds, soil, and water. Rather than being monopolised by companies and market institutions, these essential processes belong to both producers and consumers. Moreover, the circulation of knowledge and experience among different stakeholder groups is crucial for continuous improvement. In this light, agricultural and seed biodiversity is not only a vital resource but also a strategic asset that requires unprecedented attention. Strengthening policymaking and research in line with this vision is imperative.
Is it possible for governments to achieve food security without pesticides?
If I had to answer with a simple “yes” or “no,” I would say yes—in theory. However, there’s a significant caveat: the implementation complexity. In principle, it is possible to achieve food security without reducing crop yields or relying on pesticides. Yet, in practice, numerous factors come into play, such as resource management, macro-policies, the type of agricultural system in place and its reliance on chemical inputs, local climatic conditions, and even the type and origin of pests in the region.
Food security is not just about satisfying people. A person may not be hungry, but may suffer from malnutrition or poor nutrition. Food security is also achieved when all segments of society have physical and economic access to safe and sufficient food.
If we continue in the same way we have been consuming resources in the past, I do not see the future of agriculture as promising at all. Agriculture in many regions may be destroyed and even our food security and food sovereignty may be threatened.
How do you see the future of biodiversity and agricultural heritage?
If we continue our current pattern of unsustainable resource consumption, the future of agriculture looks bleak. In many regions, agriculture could be devastated, putting both food security and food sovereignty at risk. Additionally, much of our genetic diversity and indigenous seeds—integral components of our agricultural heritage—could be lost. In short, if we persist with our current approach, Iran’s agricultural legacy, as well as its biodiversity, faces an uncertain and potentially grim future.
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