Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran loses some $56 billion every year due to soil erosion, Manouchehr Gorji, head of Iran's Soil Science Society, said, Mehr news agency reported Dec. 12.
Annually about 2 billion tons of soil is eroded in the country, Gorji said, adding that erosion of each ton of soil is equal to $28 according to the US experts.
Last year Gorji warned that soil erosion in the country has reached a critical level, saying the per capita share of farmland is declining rapidly, the reasons for which are population growth and shrinking farmlands.
Iran's cultivable land is limited and the existing farmlands cannot produce more than what they currently produce, according to Gorji. He had said that of the country's 165-million hectare area, 90 million hectares cannot be cultivated and the rest is under various usages.
The amount of soil erosion in Iran is five times more than the world average, according to Iranian statistics. As the national population has increased three times over the past 45 years, the total area of forests and pastures has been significantly decreased.
Iran Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization said that soil erosion in the country is 16.7 tons per hectare annually.
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