An Overview of Sustainable Agriculture Development in Iran and in the World

The agriculture sector plays a role beyond food security and has a significant effect on the political, social and economic situation of a country. In general, 34.3% of the world’s land, 70% of water use and 37.3% of the world’s jobholders belong to the agricultural sector. The agricultural sector in Iran employs 18% of the total jobholders. Food demand requires a substantial increase of global food production of 70% by 2050 which may cause unsustainability through excessive utilization of resources, contamination of soil and water, and the excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to sustainable agriculture development to maintain natural resources. Sustainable agriculture development should be ecologically appropriate, economically justifiable and socially desirable. While the Five-year Plans after the Islamic Revolution have focused on agricultural development without emphasis on sustainable development, the focus of the country's fifth and sixth development plans has largely been on sustainable agricultural development. The study of indices of sustainable agriculture development in Iran in comparison to some neighboring countries indicated that Iran has not achieved its true status and is necessary to develop agriculture sustainably by adopting the appropriate developmental models. The most important agricultural development models in the world include the frontier model, conservation model, urban-industrial impact model, diffusion model, high pay-off input model and induced innovation model. It seems that a combination of these models is necessary for sustainable agricultural development in Iran.