Land Fragmentation in Confronting to Sustainable Agricultural Development and Food Security in Iran

Year 2021, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 1 - 10, 01.01.2021

Farhood Golmohammadi

https://doi.org/10.52704/bssocialscience.681205

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Land resources have an impact on effective agricultural activity, as well as economic, social and political stability. Sustainable land management is essential to meeting the global challenge of securing soil and water resources that can support an ever increasing population. More efficient production processes and better environmental management systems can significantly reduce pollution and waste, and save water and other resources. Iran, as a major agricultural country in Middle East and North Africa region, has long been in the quest for food self-sufficiency, however the capability of its land and water resources to realize this goal is largely unknown. In these regards land fragmentation, traditional peasantry and small holdings / businesses as major types of agricultural production system in Iran, have been known as main barriers for accessing to increasing productivity and receiving to food self-sufficiency and security. The main aim of this study is recognizing origins, situations and effects of land fragmentation and small holdings in Iran and finding solutions for them. Main research type for doing this study is qualitative approach. Main locations of study were two provinces in Iran, namely Isfahan and South Khorasan provinces. Research finding indicate that several socio-economic, legislative, institutional, governance, political, individual, technical and technological barriers caused majority of this type in land utilization in Iran, and for improving this unfavorable situation we must find and utilize appropriate social, cultural, economic, physical and operational processes to these traditional land use patterns for accessing to sustainable development goals in agricultural production system in Iran.

Keywords

Land fragmentation, Small holdings, Agricultural production system, Iran

References

• Allahyari MS, Poshtiban A, Koundinya V. 2013. Effective factors on agricultural land use change in Guilan province, Iran. Medit J Soc Sci, 11: 744–751.
• Bennett NJ, Dearden P. 2014. Why local people do not support conservation: Community perceptions of marine protected area livelihood impacts, governance and management in Thailand. Marine Pol, 44: 107–116.
• Baumane V, Celms A, Ratkevics A. 2014. Assessment for determination possibilities of land use economic efficiency. In: Proceedings of 13th International scientific conference: Engineering for rural development. May 29-30 2014, 535–540, Jelgava, Latvia.
• Cintina V, Pukite V. 2018. Analysis of influencing factors of use of agricultural land. Rural and environmental engineering, landscape architecture. Research Rural Develop, 1. DOI: 10.22616/rrd.24.2018.028.
• Clay DE, Clay SA, Reitsma KD, Dunn BH, Smart AJ, Carlson GG, Horvath D, Stone JJ. 2014. Does the conversion of grass lands to row crop production in semi-arid areas threaten global food supplies? Global Food Secur, 3: 22–30.
• CPF (Country Programming Framework). 2016. Country Programming Framework (CPF) for Iran’s agriculture sector in 2012-2016. Prepared by Government of Islamic Republic of Iran (GOI)/ Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture (MOJA) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
• Creswell JW. 1994. Research design, qualitative & quantitative approaches. SAGE Publications, London.
• Curran-Cournane F, Vaughan M, Memon A, Fredrickson C. 2014. Trade-offs between high class land and development: recentand future pressures on Auckland’s valuable soil resources. Land Use Pol, DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.02.020.
• Faramarzi N. 2012. Agricultural water use in Lake Urmia basin, Iran: an approach to adaptive policies and transition to sustainable irrigation water use. Department of Earth Sciences Master Thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No. 107.
• Iranian Bureau of Statistics. 2019. Statistical center of Iran. URL: https://www.amar.org.ir/.
• Kalantari K, Abdollahzadeh G. 2008. Factors affecting agricultural land fragmentation in Iran: a case study of Ramjerd Sub District in Fars province. American J Agri Biol Sci, 3(1): 358-363.
• Keikha Z, Keikha A. 2012. Land consolidation and its economic effects on the city district of Loutak_Zabol. Int J Eco Res, 2012v3i5: 53-60
• Lahsaeizadeh A. 2007. Iran sociology of agriculture (In Persian). Tehran Samt Pub Iranian Human Sci Univ. URL: www.samt.ac.ir.
• Mahmoudi J. 1961. Land tenure problems in Iran. A thesis submitted in partia1 fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Agricultural Economical. Utah State University. Logan, Utah.
• Mesgaran MB, Madani K, Hashemi H, Azadi P. 2017. Iran’s land suitability for agriculture. Scientific Reports, 7: 76-70.
• Rashidpour L, Rasouliazar S. 2019. Scientific papers series management, economic engineering in agriculture and rural development, 16(3): Print ISSN: 2284-7995, E-ISSN: 2285-3952.
• Shuhao T. 2005. Land fragmentation and rice production: a case study of small farms in Jiangxi Province, P. R. China. PhD. Thesis. Wageningen University.
• Syswerda SP, Robertson GP. 2014. Ecosystem services along a management gradient in Michigan (USA) cropping systems. Agri Ecosys Env, 189: 28–35.
• Tohidyan Far S, Rezaei-Moghaddam K. 2018. Impacts of the precision agricultural technologies in Iran: an analysis experts’ perception & their determinants. Inf Proces Agri, 5: 173–184.