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Iranian Agriculture and Its Development: 1952–1973

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Jane Perry Clark Carey  and
Andrew Galbraith Carey
Jane Perry Clark Carey
Affiliation:
New York City
Andrew Galbraith Carey
Affiliation:
New York City
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Extract

In the two decades between 1953 and 1973 the rapidly growing industrialization of Iran has shifted to industry much of the former emphasis on agriculture. During the last five years of the period, the share of agriculture in the GNP declined from somewhat under 25 percent to i6 percent. Despite its decreasing part, agriculture in 1972/3 was still responsible for the largest portion of consumer expenditures, and agricultural products, notably such traditional items as carpets, dried fruit and nuts continued to rank next below oil as Iran's largest exports, and so were the second largest provider of the country's foreign exchange.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 1976 , pp. 359 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

1 Annual Report and Balance Sheet, Bank Markasi Iran (the Central Bank of Iran), 1351 (1973), p. 65. The Muslim era which is used in Iran, dates from A.D. 622, the year of the flight (hijra) of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, The solar year, which is also used, usually begins on March 21st of the Gregorian year and runs to March 20th of the following. The year 1351 therefore refers to the year from March 21, 1972, to March 20, 1973. In this paper, the year is referred to as 1972/3 but the bank report is 1973 because of the date of its report to the shareholders and of publication. Beginning in 1971, all Bank Markasi reports use the Iranian date before the Gregorian. For purposes of abbreviation, report titles are shortened, i.e., Annual Report and Balance Sheet, Bank Markasi Iran, 1351, is referred to as Annual Report, Bank Markasi, 1351 (1973).Google Scholar

2 Population Forecast up to 1970, Iran Center of Statistics Publication No. 209, Ordibehesht 351 (April 21– May 21, 1973) see also Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1351/1973), p. 93.Google Scholar

3 Farm is used in the English sense. Iranian reports exclude livestock from farming and refer to farming and livestock breeding as agriculture.Google Scholar

4 Ibid. and Fourth National Development Plan, 1968–1972, The Imperial Government of Iran, Plan Organization, Tehran, Iran, 1968, p. 69. (This is referred to as the Fourth Plan and the other development plans as First, Second, Third Plan) indicating a planned increase of 226,000. Instead the loss was 202,000 (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1351/1973], p. 94).

5 Ibid., p. 93 n. 3.

6 Oberlander, T. M., “Hydrography,” The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 1, The Land of Iran (Cambridge: University Press, 1968), p. 264.Google Scholar

7 Arrian, Anabasis quoted Sir Sykes, Percy, A History of Persia, Vol. 1 (3d ed., London: MacMillan, 1958), p. 477.Google Scholar

8 In Iran, 24 cm, in the world, 86 cm (Fourth Plan, p. 145).Google Scholar

9 The rial is the unit of Iranian currency. It is made up of 1,000 dinars. In 1955, Iran and the International Monetary Fund revised the official exchange rate of the rial from 32 to 75 to the U.S. dollar. After various minor fluctuations, a new parity rate was set at 68.65 to the dollar which was later changed several times.Google Scholar

10 Among the many discussions, see esp.Ann Lambton, K. S., The Persian Land Reform, 1962–1965 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), passim.Google Scholar

11 Whether held as one or parts of several villages totaling not over 6 dang (a dang is 1½6 of any piece of real estate (ibid., p. 369). The size of the dang differs from one village to another, depending usually on the area of cultivated land. See McLachlan, K. S., “Land Reform in Iran,” The Cambridge History of Iran, 1, 693.Google Scholar

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13 Lambton, Persian Land Reform, p. 358. Permission secured from Professor Lambton for quotation.Google Scholar

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20 In 1973/4 the name of the Agricultural Development Fund was changed to Agricultural Development Bank.Google Scholar

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23 The Ministry of Water and Power is allowed to free land directly in the path of dams for investment by both domestic and foreign investors, or in conjunction with the Iranian government for development of large-scale mechanized agro-industrial complexes. The land is rented to investors for 30 years which may be extended with the contracting parties' consent. See Investors' Guide to Iran (Rev. ed., Bank Markasi, Center for the Attraction and Protection of Foreign Investments, 1969), p. 89.Google Scholar

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27 The target for red meat was 370,000 tons per annum and for poultry 50,000 (Fourth Plan, p. 101). In 1972/3, domestic production of red meat had reached 400,000 tons and poultry 67,000 (Annual Report, ADFI [1973], pp. 12, 13). The rise in “domestic production” included cattle imported from Turkey under a border agreement with that country.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., p. 16.

29 As originally planned, credits for livestock breeding and veterinary services together were to have amounted to Rls. 7 billion (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1351/1973], p. 67).Google Scholar

30 Ibid. (970), p. 17.

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32 Ibid., p. 15.

33 LeBaron, Allen, Long Term Projections of Supply and Demand for Selected Agricultural Products In Iran (Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University, 1970), p. 101.Google Scholar

34 Fourth Plan, p. 97.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., p. 93.

36 Fourth Plan, p. 98.Google Scholar

37 Annual Report, ADFI (1971), p. 13.Google Scholar

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid. (1970), p. 20.

40 Attainment was 200,000 tons short of the target of 1,400,000 tons of paddy rice (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1351/1973], p. 65).Google Scholar

41 The target for raw cotton was 600,000 tons and 618,000 was produced (ibid.).

42 In 1964/5, oilseed production amounted to 10,000 tons and approximately 90,000 tons were consumed. The Fourth Plan target was put at 130,000 tons (Fourth Plan, pp. 99, 100), but only 54,000 were produced. Ibid.

43 Annual Report, ADFI (1973), p. II.Google Scholar

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid. (1971), p. 15.

46 Ibid. (1973), p. 12. The oilseed target for the Fourth Plan was 130,000 tons; actual production was 54,000 (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1351/1973], p. 65).

47 Ibid., p. 99.

48 The beet-sugar target was approximately 4.5 million tons and cane-sugar 800,000 (Fourth Plan, p. 99).Google Scholar

49 Annual Report, ADFI (1973), p. 9.Google Scholar

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51 But 88,000 tons of green tea were produced compared with the target of 120,000 (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1351/1973] p. 65; Annual Report, ADFI [1972], p. 14; ibid. [ 1973], p. 10).

52 Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1970), p. 118, table 7.Google Scholar

53 Of the total of Rls. 79 billion, about 19.4 billion went into imports of livestock and livestock products, especially meat. Imports of major crops amounted to Rls. 60.2 billion, including cereals (especially wheat), vegetable shortening, and pulses. The latter figure also includes wood (ibid., [ 1973 ], pp. 65–66). The wheat imports amounted to 774,000 tons in 1972/3, Annual Report, ADFI [1973], p. 6).

54 In the first 9 months of 1967/8 exports had amounted to Rls. 5,165 million and the weight totaled 342,388 tons (Annual Report, Bank Markasi [1970], table 67, p. 118). In 1972/3, the value reached Rls. 16,578 million and their weight 497,000 tons (Annual Report, ADFI [1973], tables 10, II, pp. 10, 11).Google Scholar

55 Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1970), p. 89.Google Scholar

56 Ibid. (1351/1973), p. 66.

57 Annual Report, ADFI (1971), p.24.Google Scholar

58 Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1970), p. 89; ibid. (1973), p.43.

59 Ibid.

60 In 1965 an estimated 90,000–105,000 tons of giined cotton were exported (Sixth Annual Report, Industrial and Mining Development Bank [IMDBI] [1965/66], p. 43).Google Scholar

61 Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1351/1973), p. 43.Google Scholar

62 The total value of imports amounted to Rls.79.6 billion for the five years. The net value of imports was close to Rls.1.3 billion at the beginning of the Fourth Plan, and in its last year reached Rls/18.4 billion (ibid., pp. 65–66).

63 In 1972/3 alone the import of agricultural machinery of various kinds amounted to $62.3 million (twice as much as that in the preceding year) while the value of imports of tractors rose from $14.8 million to $38.7 million (ibid., pp. 43, 46).

64 Final Report, Third Plan, pp. 21–22; Fourth Plan, pp. 89, 93; see Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1351/1973), p. 65. For summary of agricultural progress during the Fourth Plan period, see ibid., pp. 64–68.

65 Annual Report, ADFI (1973), p.17.Google Scholar

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid., p. 66.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid. (1970), p. 123.

70 The proportion of the total credit extended to agriculture by the banking System amounted to 8 percent. Agriculture's share in GNP was 16 percent (Annual Report, ADFI [1973], p. 16).Google Scholar

71 Annual Report, Bank Markasi (1350/1972), p.36.

72 Ibid. (1968), p. 121.

73 LeBaron, Long Term Projections, p. 29.Google Scholar

74 Annual Report, ADFI (1970), p. 17.Google Scholar

75 Summary, Iran's Fifth Development Plan, 1973/1978 (Tehran: The Imperial Government of Iran, Plan and Budget Organization, June 1973), p. I.Google Scholar