Tehran – Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture has set a target to cut water use in the crop sector by 10% as part of its 2025 national crop planting pattern, according to a deputy minister.

 

Gholamreza Golmohammadi, who also heads the Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO), told ILNA that the organization is responsible for drafting, overseeing, and providing technical support for the plan, while the Deputy for Crop Affairs will communicate it to provincial authorities.

 

“Given that the agricultural sector accounts for the largest share of water consumption, it was prioritized for the new planting pattern,” he said. “If past consumption in this sector was around 50 billion cubic meters, the 2025 plan lowers that to 45 billion cubic meters.”

 

Golmohammadi announced the rollout of the Setak planting pattern decision-support platform, with a dedicated monitoring and evaluation center to be inaugurated in September at AREEO headquarters. Integrated with the My Farm platform, Setak will enable fully electronic supervision - from planning and execution to compliance checks.

 

“This is the first year we are implementing real-time electronic monitoring of planting patterns,” he noted.

 

AREEO’s review of the 2023–2024 season showed that 80% of the approved plan was carried out. The evaluation for the 2024–2025 season is in progress and expected within three months.

 

According to Golmohammadi, the shift to digital oversight marks a significant step toward improving efficiency and sustainability in Iran’s agricultural water management.