Increasing population has posed insurmountable challenges to agriculture in the provision of future food security, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where biophysical conditions are not well-suited for agriculture. Iran, as a major agricultural country in the MENA region, has long been in the quest for food self-sufficiency, however, the capability of its land and water resources to realize this goal is largely unknown. Using very high-resolution spatial data sets, we evaluated the capacity of Iran's land for sustainable crop production based on the soil properties, topography, and climate conditions. We classified Iran's land suitability for cropping as (million ha): very good 0.4% (0.6), good 2.2% (3.6), medium 7.9% (12.8), poor 11.4% (18.5), very poor 6.3% (10.2), unsuitable 60.0% (97.4), and excluded areas 11.9% (19.3). In addition to overarching limitations caused by low precipitation, low soil organic carbon, steep slope, and high soil sodium content were the predominant soil and terrain factors limiting the agricultural land suitability in Iran. About 50% of the Iran's existing croplands are located in low-quality lands, representing an unsustainable practice. There is little room for cropland expansion to increase production but redistribution of cropland to more suitable areas may improve sustainability and reduce pressure on water resources, land, and ecosystem in Iran.

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Iran's Land Suitability for Agriculture

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Besides the rapid population growth over the past few decades, water scarcity and soil degradation have intensified the challenges faced by the Iranian agriculture sector to ensure food security over the long term. Despite its paramount importance, the extent to which the land and water resources of Iran can meet the nation’s future food demand is not well understood. Herein, we systematically evaluated the capacity of Iran’s land for sustainable agriculture based on the soil properties, topography, and climate conditions relevant to crop production.Our objectives were to:i) Quantify and map the suitability of Iran’s land resources for croppingii) Examine if further increase in production can be achieved through agriculture expansion or the redistribution of cropping areasWhen evaluated based on the soil and topographic variables only, Iran’s land suitability for crop cultivation can be classified as (million ha): very good 0.7, good 5.1, medium 17.2, poor 24.8, very poor 55.7, and unsuitable 39.7. Inland water bodies, protected areas, urbanized areas, natural forests, and rangelands, collectively occupying 19.3 million ha of Iran’s land, are recognized in this study as excluded areas. When climate variables (precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) were included in the analysis, the distribution of lands among suitability classes were (million ha): very good 0.6, good 3.6, medium 12.8, poor 18.5, very poor 10.2, and unsuitable 97.4. The spatial distribution of these lands is shown in Figure ES-1. Among the considered soil and terrain attributes, low soil organic carbon, steep slope, and high soil sodium content were identified as the most frequent factors limiting the suitability of lands for cropping.Our analysis also revealed that 30%, 5%, and 17% of the current agricultural lands (cultivated and uncultivated) are located in poor, very poor, and unsuitable areas, respectively. Cultivation in very poor or unsuitable lands can be partially avoided as there exist unused lands with at least a medium level of suitability for substitution that can improve the overall sustainability of the agriculture sector in Iran. Our estimation of the proportion of unused lands within each suitability classes shows that almost all available lands with high suitability have been exploited for agriculture, but there exist about 4.2 million ha of medium quality lands, mostly located in western Iran, for future expansion. However, only a small portion of these unused lands can be practically deployed for agriculture because of their low spatial connectivity and limited accessibility. We estimated that cultivating rainfed wheat in 1 million ha of these unused lands could potentially result in the production of 0.8 million ton of wheat per year – adding up to 5% to Iran’s current cereal production level.Whilst the insufficiency of water resources has long been realized as a major impediment to developing a productive agriculture in Iran, our study highlights the additional limitations caused by the paucity of suitable land resources. Our analysis does not consider groundwater availability for agriculture and precipitation is the only component of surface water availability considered in this study. (Less)

Evaluation of Land and Precipitation for Agriculture in Iran

Purpose




The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underground levels of a city to explore how vernacular and historic underground urban facilities help traditional cities to be sustainable. Therefore, the authors look at how culture, climate and economy affect those facilities.




Design/methodology/approach




The paper focuses on vernacular and local underground urban facilities in historic cities to find more sustainable processes of urban development that integrate cultural, climatic and economical concerns into design planning. The paper is based on a case study of the underground infrastructure of Dezful, Iran.




Findings




There are several vernacular building styles around the world, especially in Iran, with different shapes, materials, arrangements and concepts. Building construction has significant impacts on the environment and natural resources. Dezful is a city in Iran with a lot of potential in terms of its architecture. Vernacular cities possess infrastructure that helped them thrive in harsh climates. For instance, Dezful takes advantage of a systematic infrastructure termed the “Underground City.”




Originality/value




The traditional architecture of Dezful plays an important role in creating underground spaces, especially urban and architectural elements with thermal isolation properties that can be used as housing and as food storage. In this century, building construction could adopt these environmental properties, which could lead to low energy consumption in urban environments. Considering traditional and contextual elements in urban planning and design could revive sustainable community practices in urban environments.

Khosroushahi Mohammad

Papers

Determination of climatological deserts in Iran.