A Menu of Solutions to the Food Security Challenge in Iran

Due to shortage in the natural resources in Iran especially of water supply, it may be impossible to produce sufficient food for the growing population in the future while avoiding food imports. However, it is possible to find ways to mitigate food problem for the growing population. These solutions are sustainable uses of water and soil resources, use of advanced technology in agricultural inputs, increase in photosynthesis efficiency by use of biotechnology, decrease in loss of agricultural products, decrease in food calorie consumption and red meat based food, avoiding in conversion of feed and forage to biofuels, increase in agricultural products for food, intensification by breeding perennial grain crops, domestication of perennial plants, using biotechnology to produce crops and trees that are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, efficient uses of precipitation in rain-fed tree plantation, pasture and forest, use of treated wastewater, desalinization of saline and seawater by solar radiation and reverse osmosis, decrease in water use for crop production by greenhouse cropping , production of medical plants by lower water use, planting new crops and forage plants suitable for saline and seawater use and consideration of virtual water in import of non-strategic agricultural products.