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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
After nearly achieving agricultural self-sufficiency in the
1960s, Iran reached the point in 1979 where 65 percent of its food
had to be imported. Declining productivity was blamed on the use of
modern fertilizers, which had inadvertently scorched the thin
Iranian soil. Unresolved land reform issues, a lack of economic
incentives to raise surplus crops, and low profit ratios combined
to drive increasingly large segments of the farm population into
urban areas.
The 1979 Revolution sought self-sufficiency in foodstuffs as
part of its overall goal of decreased economic dependence on the
West. Higher government subsidies for grain and other staples and
expanded short- term credit and tax exemptions for farmers
complying with government quotas were intended by the new regime to
promote self-sufficiency. But by early 1987, Iran was actually more
dependent on agricultural imports than in the 1970s.
Data as of December 1987
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