Investigating the Role of Knowledge-Based Companies in Ensuring Iran's Food Security

There is almost no food outside agriculture. The production of food, fodder, fibers and other agricultural products is directly dependent on agriculture, horticulture and gardening, livestock and poultry breeding, fish and honeybees, forests and pastures. The products of this sector include red meat, chicken meat, fish, milk, dairy products, honey, grains, legumes, sugar, oil, fodder, medicinal plants, wood, vegetables and fruits, all kinds of fruits, etc. In light of the high share of the agricultural sector in the employment of people living in rural areas of Iran, as a policy arm to prevent the migration of rural people, we see the weak presence of knowledge-based companies. Investing in the agricultural sector to achieve food security and strengthening national production and employment is considered as a strategic issue for every country. Food security is the access of all people to enough food at all times to have a healthy body. According to this definition, availability of food, access to food and stability in receiving food are three main elements. Every year, a significant amount of foreign currency is exported from the country for the import of products related to food security, which is a wide range of products in technological areas such as livestock and poultry vaccines and probiotics as well as in non-technological areas such as corn and other agricultural and livestock inputs. One of the important projects pursued by the country's technology ecosystem for several years is the improvement of the country's food industry using biological methods with the help of food production factories. Food industry is one of the vital, sensitive and important industries in the country and improving the quality of this industry means improving the mental and physical security of the people, for this reason the Biotechnology Development Headquarters in the presidential institution complex seeks to improve this industry with biological methods. Creating the necessary infrastructure and standards to ensure quality, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses in the production, market and knowledge-based products, clarifying the government's demand in the important and priority parts of the value chain, creating a field for the export of knowledge-based products. Using the capacity of foreign investment in the development of technological capabilities, encouraging large domestic companies to invest in Research and Development (R&D) activities through cooperation with domestic technology companies, leveraging the country's large market towards domestic production and investing in R&D.