TEHRAN, Iran, June. 1
Trend:
Iranian First Vise President said the water issue is one of the main challenges facing the country.
Iranian First Vise President Ishaq Jahangiri attended the opening ceremony of the 12th National Conference on Agricultural Economics of Iran, which was held in the form of a video conference, today on Tuesday, Trend reports citing IRNA.
Referring to climate change and drought, Jahangiri says that this year is one of the driest years of the country in the last 50 years.
“The amount of rainfall and water stored behind the dams has greatly decreased and a headquarters has been established in the government to deal with the water crisis,” he said.
The first vice president said that in recent years, the government has implemented projects in the agricultural sector to reduce water consumption in accordance with the water shortage conditions.
He said that greenhouse cultivation has increased from 8,000 hectares to 18,000 hectares during the last 8 years.
Referring to the implementation of water and soil projects he noted the 550,000-hectare project in Khuzestan and Ilam provinces with a government investment of over $1.5 to 2 billion.
The first vice president said that the government has made large investments to reduce soil salinity throughout the country.
He described government policies in the field of agriculture, such as interference in pricing, as necessary policies in order to flourish the agricultural sector.
Referring to the government's measures to import basic items, Jahangiri said that during sanctions, the most important policy of the government was to combat the shortages of any goods.
Of course, in the economic war, we faced other pressures such as high prices, but a significant amount of needs in the field of horticultural products, crops, and fisheries were produced in the country.
"One of the most important approaches of the resistance economy was to use the country's domestic capacity in which the agricultural sector had good achievements,” he noted.