Unfortunately, our agriculture sector has become heavily dependent on oil revenues over the past few years. Issa Kalantari, secretary general of House of Farmer and former minister of agriculture, noted that though more than 99% of needed energy for agriculture sector is produced by sunlight and without any cost, this advantage has largely gone unheeded and we are funding agricultural activities through petrodollars.

Referring to role of such factors as manpower, natural resources, technology and capital in production of agricultural products, he added that the first three factors are functions of capital because they can be recruited through suitable investment. Explaining about importance of investment in the agriculture sector, Kalantari stated that according to studies carried on 40,000 exemplary farmers in cities and provinces, all of them are among the wealthiest people in their districts.

He stated that all-out development in agriculture sector hinges upon developed farmers and emphasized: "Since sustainable agriculture has not received due attention, when Iran becomes a permanent member of the World Trade Organization, 85-90% of Iranian farmers will be unable to compete if needed investments are not made."

Secretary General of House of Farmer said unfamiliarity of agricultural experts with large-scale problems of the sector including economic conditions as the most important problems facing the sector and noted that agriculture is not limited to identification of pests or different diseases.

He said maximum allowable tariffs on import of agricultural goods after accession to the World Trade Organization will be 12% and reminded that under those conditions Australian meat will be marketed in Iran at 2,400 dollars per ton (2,200 tomans per kilogram) considering the said tariff as well as transportation costs, but cost price of every kilogram of red meat produced inside Iran will stand at 4,000 tomans.

Referring to low tariff of foodstuff imports over the past few years, Kalantari stated that unfortunately instead of availing of international trade, Iran has been frequently hit by its negative aspects. He noted that implementation of unreasonable policies by the government with regard to producing some agricultural goods has inflicted 6-7 billion dollars in losses on farmers, noting, "Under normal conditions and in view of good rainfall in recent years, we should have become self-sufficient in wheat production by 2008 or 2009."

However, one year after becoming self-sufficient in wheat production and in view of suitable rainfall, we need to import 1.5 million tons wheat this year. Former agriculture minister also stated that total irrigated farmlands in the country amounts to 6.05 million hectares, adding, "By using all means and taking advantage of modern technology, we can add an annual maximum of 25,000-30,000 hectares to those lands. The area of suitable lands for winter tillage amount to 2.6 million hectares and noted that through use of incorrect methods, winter tillage has not been done over 3.2 million hectares of lands of which 2.6 million hectares have been allocated to irrigated wheat cultivation while 600,000 hectares have been set aside for planting barley.

Kalantari pointed out that unfortunately, 12 years after eradication of fusarium infection in some regions like Fars, Golestan, Kermanshah and northern parts of Khorasan, the problem is back and fighting it will be very costly.

Furthermore, cultivation area for hay has been reduced by 170,000 hectares. Agricultural policies are closely related to international policies and we should make good use of our country’s advantages. Advanced countries take an economic approach to all activities, but state-run and private agricultural sectors in Iran are disconnected from international economic issues.

Iran’s agriculture sector ranked 143 among 169 countries in terms of ratio of state investments to total budget in 1998-99. Annual growth of production in agriculture sector stands at 3.5%. When the sector’s policies are notified, goods ways should be found to implement them.

Kalantari mentioned cost-free solar energy and relatively fertile land among major advantages of Iran’s agriculture sector and noted that taking advantage of inexpensive goods in order to lower costs is among global trade advantages, but uneconomic ideals governing the agriculture sector have always been problematic.

The former minister of agriculture said last year’s budget of Ministry of Agricultural Jihad stood at 550 billion tomans, adding, according to the Fourth Economic Development Plan, the government should allocate 6,000 billion rials in developmental budget to the agriculture sector, but last year, about 40% of that figure (about 2,500 billion rials) were allocated. Some 5,500 billion rials were spent on salaries and current expenses and only 250 billion rials was allocated to developmental activities in agriculture sector.

Kalantari noted that if government allocated 70 billion rials per year for 10 years as interest-free loan to farmers (to be used for reconstruction of the agriculture sector without imposing high costs on the government), the goals of the 20-year perspective plan would be realized for this sector and a great deal of farmer’s problems would be solved.

Half of inflation in price of foodstuffs is attributable to brokers and intermediaries. Brokers at major fruits and vegetables sales centers reap 25,000-30,000 billion rials in annual profits without paying even one rial as tax.

Stressing the necessity of reforms in structure of agricultural products’ market, he stated that apart from pistachios and dates, there is no surplus with regard to other products and many people suffer from low purchasing power due to high price of agricultural products. Kalantari stated that agricultural quarantine laws are related to 50 years ago in France and those laws have barred transfer of modern technology and have increased the price of agricultural products.