Iran’s Agricultural Output Surges 500% Over Four Decades, Official Says

A senior official at Iran’s Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) said the country’s agricultural output has recorded a 500 percent increase over the past four decades, despite only modest growth in cultivated land.

Speaking on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Gholamreza Salehi, Technological and Research Deputy at AREEO, noted that Iran’s total agricultural production stood at around 25 million tons in the early years after the 1979 revolution, compared with roughly 130 million tons today.

Salehi explained that the area under cultivation for agricultural and horticultural products has grown by only about 40 percent over the same period, increasing from nearly 10 million hectares to around 14 million hectares. This, he said, highlights significant improvements in productivity and efficiency across the sector.

He also pointed to the rapid expansion of knowledge-based companies in Iran, saying their number has risen from about 700 to nearly 8,000 over the past four decades. According to Salehi, roughly 10 percent of these companies are currently active in agriculture and the food industry, playing an increasingly important role in innovation and sustainable production.

The official stressed that technological development, research capacity, and the integration of science into farming practices have been key factors behind the sector’s long-term growth.