TEHRAN - Iran's Deputy Agriculture Minister Safdar Niazi has said implementing smart irrigation systems in the country is going to reduce water consumption in the agricultural sector by 50 percent, IRNA reported.

He considered the implementation of smart irrigation as one of the priorities in the field of water and soil in the Seventh National Development Plan (2022-2027) and said: “With the implementation of smart irrigation, 50 percent saving in water consumption will be achieved.”

The project manager of the Iranian Agriculture Ministry's modern irrigation systems development program has said over 100 smart irrigation pilot projects have been implemented across the country, IRIB reported.

Fariborz Abbasi made the remarks in a specialized meeting on smart irrigation held on the sidelines of the 7th International Agriculture, Horticulture, Greenhouses, Inputs, and Agriculture Machinery Exhibition of Iran (IFarm 2024).

According to Abbasi, the Agriculture Ministry has taken many new measures for modernizing and smartening of irrigation systems in the country among which identifying 10 knowledge-based and technological companies, using the capacities of research centers and institutions, and evaluating various smart irrigation technologies can be mentioned.

“So far, more than 100 smart irrigation pilot projects have been carried out in the country on more than 10,000 hectares of lands,” he said.

The official noted that the mentioned projects have been carried out in large industrial and pioneering farms in different climates, for different plants, and with various irrigation methods.

“Significant results have been obtained from the implementation of these projects in terms of increasing performance and reducing water consumption,” Abbasi said.

He pointed out that some indicators have been considered to identify capable companies in the field of implementing smart irrigation systems, and said: “The number of companies identified in this field does not meet all the needs of the country, and, the distribution of the 10 existing companies is not even in all the provinces of the country, so it is necessary to increase the capabilities in this field.”

Back in August, Niazi said the ministry has allocated 18.5 trillion rials (about $35 million) to be provided as facilities to farmers across the country for establishing modern irrigation systems.

Stating that more than eight million hectares of land in the country can be equipped with modern irrigation systems, the official said that 4.3 million hectares of farmlands have been equipped with such systems so far.

He further noted that under the framework of the seventh National Development Plan (2023-2027) over 1.75 million hectares of farmlands should be equipped with modern irrigation systems by the end of the mentioned plan which brings the total area of established irrigation systems in the country to 2.1 million hectares.

He stated that currently, 40 percent of the farmlands in the country are equipped with modern irrigation systems 10 percent of which are irrigation networks.

“The irrigation efficiency in the country is 50 percent and the productivity percentage is one and a half kilograms of product for every one square meter of water consumption,” Niazi explained.

EF/MA