Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture

Abstract Increasing population has posed insurmountable challenges to agriculture in the provision of future food security, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where biophysical conditions are not well-suited for agriculture. Iran, as a major agricultural country in the ME...

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Autores principales:	Mohsen B. Mesgaran, Kaveh Madani, Hossein Hashemi, Pooya Azadi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/afdc2792b5f74a1aa20d3d394806b237
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:afdc2792b5f74a1aa20d3d394806b2372021-12-02T15:05:44ZIran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture10.1038/s41598-017-08066-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/afdc2792b5f74a1aa20d3d394806b2372017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08066-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Increasing population has posed insurmountable challenges to agriculture in the provision of future food security, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where biophysical conditions are not well-suited for agriculture. Iran, as a major agricultural country in the MENA 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. Using very high-resolution spatial data sets, we evaluated the capacity of Iran’s land for sustainable crop production based on the soil properties, topography, and climate conditions. We classified Iran’s land suitability for cropping as (million ha): very good 0.4% (0.6), good 2.2% (3.6), medium 7.9% (12.8), poor 11.4% (18.5), very poor 6.3% (10.2), unsuitable 60.0% (97.4), and excluded areas 11.9% (19.3). In addition to overarching limitations caused by low precipitation, low soil organic carbon, steep slope, and high soil sodium content were the predominant soil and terrain factors limiting the agricultural land suitability in Iran. About 50% of the Iran’s existing croplands are located in low-quality lands, representing an unsustainable practice. There is little room for cropland expansion to increase production but redistribution of cropland to more suitable areas may improve sustainability and reduce pressure on water resources, land, and ecosystem in Iran.Mohsen B. MesgaranKaveh MadaniHossein HashemiPooya AzadiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Mohsen B. Mesgaran Kaveh Madani Hossein Hashemi Pooya Azadi Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
description	Abstract Increasing population has posed insurmountable challenges to agriculture in the provision of future food security, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where biophysical conditions are not well-suited for agriculture. Iran, as a major agricultural country in the MENA 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. Using very high-resolution spatial data sets, we evaluated the capacity of Iran’s land for sustainable crop production based on the soil properties, topography, and climate conditions. We classified Iran’s land suitability for cropping as (million ha): very good 0.4% (0.6), good 2.2% (3.6), medium 7.9% (12.8), poor 11.4% (18.5), very poor 6.3% (10.2), unsuitable 60.0% (97.4), and excluded areas 11.9% (19.3). In addition to overarching limitations caused by low precipitation, low soil organic carbon, steep slope, and high soil sodium content were the predominant soil and terrain factors limiting the agricultural land suitability in Iran. About 50% of the Iran’s existing croplands are located in low-quality lands, representing an unsustainable practice. There is little room for cropland expansion to increase production but redistribution of cropland to more suitable areas may improve sustainability and reduce pressure on water resources, land, and ecosystem in Iran.
format	article
author	Mohsen B. Mesgaran Kaveh Madani Hossein Hashemi Pooya Azadi
author_facet	Mohsen B. Mesgaran Kaveh Madani Hossein Hashemi Pooya Azadi
author_sort	Mohsen B. Mesgaran
title	Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
title_short	Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
title_full	Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
title_fullStr	Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
title_full_unstemmed	Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture
title_sort	iran’s land suitability for agriculture
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/afdc2792b5f74a1aa20d3d394806b237
work_keys_str_mv	AT mohsenbmesgaran iranslandsuitabilityforagriculture AT kavehmadani iranslandsuitabilityforagriculture AT hosseinhashemi iranslandsuitabilityforagriculture AT pooyaazadi iranslandsuitabilityforagriculture
_version_	1718388725124169728

Iran’s Land Suitability for Agriculture

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