Tehran, Iran, May 19
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
The Iranian deputy agriculture minister said the government has so far allocated over $1 billion to modernize irrigation systems in farming land across the country.
“One billion and 50 million dollars have been allocated to implement a new irrigation systems project (in agricultural land across the country),” Alimorad Akbari said as cited by the official website of Iranian Agricultural Ministry on May 19.
Around $250 million out of the total amount was allotted to the project in the current Iranian calendar year, beginning March 2017, he added.
Akbari said the budget allotment for the implementation of the irrigation systems plan was $300 and $500 million in the past two years, respectively.
The project is aimed at reducing Iran’s water consumption and combating its ongoing water crisis as 97 percent of the country is experiencing drought to some degree, he said.
The Iranian official said last year 280,000 hectares of the country’s land have been equipped with the new irrigation system.
Water depletion in Iran is one of the highest in the world, where the government expects a 25 percent decline in surface water runoff by 2030.
Add to this wasteful patterns in major cities and towns and Iran faces a race against time to tackle its serious water shortage challenge.