Dr. Khavazi was Appointed as Minister of Jahad Agriculture

According to FRWO's website, Dr. Kazem Khavazi, the proposed Minister of Agriculture, presented his plans to assume the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad on Wednesday, April 11, 2020 in the open session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) and received a vote of confidence. Accordingly, from among 215 lawmakers participating in the session, 196 MPs voted in favor, 15 voted against and four MPs abstained and Dr. Kazem Khavazi became the Minister of Jahad Agriculture.

In this ceremony, Dr. Khavazi highlighted the need for establishment of an integrated information system as a prerequisite for compilation of the Land Use Planning Document and the Transformation Document of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

In another part of his remarks he noted: "I believe that the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad has three main missions: "Food security ", "Development of human resources active in the sector " and " Preservation of base resources ". Therefore, in line with the general policies of I. R. of Iran in agriculture and environment sector and legal obligations stipulated in the Sixth Development Plan, special programs have been prepared for the management of soil and water resources, as well as forests and rangelands in accordance with the ecological potential.

Dr. Khavazi added: "In the field of forestry, implementation of Logging Ban Initiative in the Caspian forests parallel to development of wood farming, forest enrichment operation, cadastre mapping by using Remote Sensing will be among the most important priorities."

Addressing the MPs, Dr. Khavazi said: "Due to the risk of natural hazards in many parts of the country, including flash floods, desertification and dust storms, the Ministry seriously pursues the implementation of IWM projects with the involvement of people to address challenges of flood control, reduction of negative balance of groundwater aquifers and conservation of soil and water resources according to the plan. The implementation of these programs will lead to the welfare of land users and the development of villages."

As for the management of rangelands, he added: "With due consideration to the fact that the livelihood of about one million farmers is dependent upon rangelands, and the substitution of industrial feed lot farming and the reduction of livestock on rangelands in the short run may pose some challenges, therefore, FRWO is planning to reduce pressure on rangeland by tapping the other capacities of rangelands including cultivation of medicinal plants, ecotourism and beekeeping to generate more income for land users."

He added that the Ministry is to provide an enabling platform for all experts in the field of agriculture and natural resources, especially from scientific, academic and research community, associations, cooperatives, industries, private sector, knowledge-based companies in agricultural sector to present their innovations for the promotion of the agriculture and natural resources sectors.