Changes and Problems of Agricultural Development in Iran

There has been a big debate on the evolution of agricultural development (AD), the challenges and problems hindering AD in Iran since last decade. This study was implemented in the province of Esfahan and a number of 130 out of 212 agricultural experts from 13 different townships were selected as the target group. Totally 70 experts returned the completed questionnaires. The findings of the study revealed that most of the AD changes have been positive but in a very slow rate. Respondents unanimously claimed that the sustainability in agriculture and maintenance of agricultural lands are the most deteriorating issues during last ten years. With regard to AD problems, they stressed the lack of adequate fund allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture (MAJ) and lack of its power to control beneficiary dealers within the sector, unfair political influence, lack of international contacts and also untrustworthiness of agriculture for private investors as the most problematic obstacles for AD in Iran. They perceived that MAJ has not sufficiently addressed the problems so far, although, there are some promising movements. Experts believed that MAJ is not able to solve the majority of problems alone due to their extrinsic nature