Analysis of spatio-temporal pattern of Cereals cultivation in Iran

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the economy, especially in developing countries. Due to growing population, food security has become a major challenge and elimination of hunger is identified as one of the main goals of the millennium development goals. In this regard, considering the strategic nature of cereals and its effective role in ensuring food security in the country, the purpose of this study is to analysis the trend of spatial and temporal changes in cereals (wheat and barley) over a 15year period from 2003 to 2018. In this study, the research method is descriptive-analytical. The data were collected documentary based on the official data published by Ministry of Agriculture Jihad and Statistics Center of Iran. Data analysis was performed using spatial statistics techniques in the ArcMap software environment. The results of the study show that at the national level, changes have been made with a relative reduction in the area under barley cultivation and a significant reduction in the area under wheat cultivation. The results of the research at the provincial level indicate a relative decrease in fluctuations and the range of changes in the area under cereals cultivation among the provinces of the country, in other words, a relative balance has been created in the allocation of land to wheat and barley cultivation among the provinces. The results of spatial analysis of cereal cultivation area also show that the focus of cereal cultivation is mainly in some counties located in the west and northwest of the Iran.