TEHRAN — The 2nd exhibition on capabilities of villagers and nomads - featuring their products, innovations and achievements - will open today at the Tehran Permanent International Fairground.

Stretching over a land area of 13,000 square meters, the exhibition will take place in 10 halls for showcasing handicrafts and agricultural products produced by villagers and nomads, introducing their innovations and new ideas, carrying photo galleries, performing rituals, rites, and local games.

The 4-day event will bring together some 22.5 million villagers and nomads from across the country, Abolfazl Razavi, the vice president for development of villages and underprivileged areas, said on Monday.

No one would like to leave their hometown but unequal distribution of resources in the country compels villagers to leave everything behind and move to big cities and they would inevitably end up living on the outskirts of the cities, Razavi Said. The exhibition is one of a kind as it gathers all villagers and nomads with various custom, traditions, and cultures together in one place and indicates how they live unanimously and peacefully together, Razavi highlighted.

Razavi went on to say that the exhibition is arranged in association with Ministries of agriculture, industry, mine and trade, Iran's Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Nomads Affairs Organization and many other bodies and organizations.

Shortsighted policies force villagers to migrate

Elsewhere in his remarks, Razavi pointed out that misguided and shortsighted policies in planning for the country have forced the villagers to migrate to the urban areas.

“No one would like to leave their hometown but unequal distribution of resources in the country compels villagers to leave everything behind and move to big cities and they would inevitably end up living on the outskirts of the cities,” he regretted.

“We’ve tried to provide the villages with water, hygiene and other fundamental needs but we forgot about creating job opportunities which encouraged migration to the cities and villagers who are normally producers will turn into users in the cities,” he stated.

“And that’s why we are holding such an exhibition for the second time to help the villagers stage their capabilities and open up opportunities for them,’ Razavi explained.

Additionally, “we’ve so far allocated some 30 trillion rials (nearly $750 million) to development projects in villages and succeeded in creating some 60,000 job opportunities in villages during the first 9 months of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 20-December 20, 2016).”

It should be noted that the exhibition is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

MQ/MG