Minister of Jihad for Agriculture: Sometimes “food authority” is more important than “military authority”
According to IRNA, “Seyed Javad Sadatinejad” said at the monthly meeting of the Islamic Society of Engineers on Saturday evening: “With the corona incident in the world, the field of food and food security has become particularly important.” All countries have always been concerned about food. In all constitutions of countries, food security and food supply by governments have an important place. But in the case of corona, the sensitivities have increased and countries are storing more as a precaution.
He added: “Access to food has become less and more expensive than in the past.” For this reason, there is competition between countries in this area for food security of citizens. China is ahead of the rest in terms of purchasing and storing food items and has a long history of iodine. The world has improved its food security situation and today the field of food security has been transformed into the field of “food power”. Countries today are not just looking for food security for their people, they want food power.
Saying that a term has been coined in the political literature and diplomacy called “food authority”, Sadatinejad said: “The national authority of countries depends on food authority, which is important in trade, trade and political relations of countries, along with other diplomacies.” “Food diplomacy” is a concept and an active international dimension to the extent that sometimes in practice the importance of food authority is more important than military authority.
Recalling the incident of the downing of the Russian jet by the Turkish defense, the Minister of Jihad for Agriculture said: “The whole world was waiting for a military response against Turkey with the knowledge they had of the Russian president, but Russia’s food need for Turkish agriculture and food caused the two countries to work with The conversation is over. This shows that the power of food is very strong and deterrent.
Iran has food power in West Asia, but our share is 2%
Referring to the climatic conditions of Iran and the good natural and climatic conditions of the country, he said: “In general, water shortage and high water, we have special conditions compared to neighboring countries.” We have food power in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. But the truth is, our seat of food authority is not perfect, and we even have shortcomings in part of our food security. It is not based on the capacity and potential of the power that we should have. Millions live in our neighboring countries, and our share of 100 percent food security in the Middle East and West Asia is 2 percent.
“Food is like a weapon of domination,” said a member of the 13th cabinet about the role of food and the power of food in national and international authority. 37% of the world’s food is in the United States, which is itself a tool of power, governance and domination. We do not have this tool. Nutrition’s sovereignty in international conflicts, relations and diplomacy is considered by other countries and affects their vote. Therefore, this tool is at our disposal from an ecological and strategic point of view, but in practice, we have not been able to reach a stage where we can use it in the field of national and international security.
Iranian agriculture is not commercial or economic
Asked why we do not have food authority in the region despite the favorable climatic and ecological conditions, Sadati-Nejad said: There are two main reasons; One is that agriculture in Iran is not commercial or economic. The share of agriculture in gdp should be the same in investment. The world average investment in agriculture is 4%, so our gdp share in agriculture is very far from investment. Most of our focus is on agriculture and subsistence farming, and because of this our water and soil productivity is low. Naturally, capital is not absorbed in such circumstances. The fact that agriculture is subsidized in the world is due to its low efficiency in relation to industry and services.
Our agriculture is not knowledge-based
The Minister of Jihad for Agriculture pointed out: In the world, the vacuum of agricultural efficiency compared to other areas is compensated with subsidies. Because food security is important. Therefore, while we must help agriculture with subsidies, we must make it commercial and economic. The second reason for our current situation in the agricultural sector is that this field is not knowledge-based. Because agriculture is not a science, it cannot be called economic and commercial production. Therefore, by eliminating these two structural shortcomings, we must plan in the field of agriculture.
He added: “In 1342, there was a discussion about the White Revolution and land reform, and our agriculture became a smallholder, and this caused agriculture to distance itself from the commercial and economic spheres and become a livelihood.” The appearance of the land reform plan was to give the land to the farmers from the main owners, which practically damaged the trade and economy in the agricultural sector. Secondly, “water was separated from agriculture” and we are still involved in this issue. Water is in the hands of the Ministry of Energy and Agriculture, and the two operate like two separate islands.
The member of the 13th government considered the separation of trade from agriculture as the third factor of Iran’s agricultural livelihood and added: “Today, the trade sector is in the hands of the Ministry of Commerce and the organic connection between the agricultural and commercial sectors is difficult.” One produces, but the market and business are in the hands of someone else. This challenge of market regulation, imports and production has always existed and has hit production in some places. Production used to be enough, but excessive imports have paralyzed and damaged production.
Approach; Contract farming program
Expressing the economic solution and commercialization of agriculture, Sadati Nejad said: “Agricultural solution is contracted and our plan in the Ministry of Jihad for Agriculture is to develop a contracted agricultural program, and we have started our work from wheat this year as well.” In our country, one percent of our products are produced with a conventional system, and this number is up to 90% in some countries.
Explaining contract agriculture, he said: “It means that no seeds are planted unless their sale is guaranteed and the product is for which target market, domestic or export?” Therefore, we have no choice but to contract agriculture in order to overcome al-Maliki and subsistence agriculture. In this system, the cultivation pattern takes place, and instead of orderly forbidding the farmer from planting a vessel that consumes a lot of water, we give him alternative cultivation and a guaranteed price for alternative cultivation.
.