Experts within the Food and Agricultural Organization (the FAO) define the term “food security” as “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The achievement and further sustainability of food security are considered by the Iranian authorities to be one of the main tasks of their national security policy. In accordance with current regulations, Iran's state doctrine of national food security is based on the principle of the achievement of self-sufficiency in the production of the so-called strategic agricultural produce (such as wheat, barley, rice, oilseeds, meat and dairy products) with the subsequent evolution of Iran into a major regional exporter of these food products.

Agrarian Policy of the Iranian Government during the Period 1990 – 2012 and its Results

It may initially seem that, during the last two decades, the Iranian government has achieved tangible successes in agricultural development: by 2012, the overall volume of agricultural produce supplied by farmers to the domestic market grew from 43 to 76.9 million tonnes. Fruit production increased from 10.3 to 16.1 million tonnes, meat supplies grew from 6.2 up to 13.7 million tonnes and fish production rose from 328 to 664 thousand tonnes. According to different reports provided by official Iranian organizations, the state support of agriculture was (and still is) the decisive factor, which boosted agricultural production during the last two decades. Thus, in 1990 – 2010, the Iranian authorities encouraged the creation of 1850 new farming cooperatives. Crop insurance, the system of state purchases of agricultural produce at guaranteed prices, the provision of indirect subsidies and exemption from income tax were among the main instruments used by the Iranian authorities to support domestic agricultural producers. Iranian farmers received government payments for each tonne of strategic crops, each hectare of sown field or a certain number of young animal stocks. Peasants were also enabled to purchase forage crops, fertilizers, seeds, fuel and machinery at reduced prices. The amount of public subsidies offered to growers from 1990 to 2007 annually increased by 25.88%. Eventually, this assistance reached 860 million dollars per year.