By allocating this amount of budget, the whole credit of comprehensive development plans will reach 42 trillion rials (about $140 million), Akbar Nikzad, head of the Housing Foundation, said.

The comprehensive development plans aim to develop rural areas in line with cultural, economic, and social conditions, as well as housing provision for the rural residents and improving environmental services.

“There are around 40,000 villages in the country with more than 20 households, for all of which comprehensive development plans have been approved every 10 years, and after this period, the village comprehensive development plans need to be reviewed.

The plans have so far been reviewed and re-implemented for 4,000 villages with more than 20 households in the country,” he stated.

Rural development, migration reverse

Currently, 26 percent of the country’s population lives in villages, around 39,000 villages have more than 20 households and 23,000 villages have less than 20 households.

Thus, more than 97 percent of the country’s rural population lives in villages with over 20,000 households.

In Iran, where villages account for generating 20-23 percent of the value-added in the country, the development of rural areas has been always a top agenda of the government’s activities.

Many efforts have been made over the past couple of years by the government to support villagers and slow down the trend of migration from rural areas to cities.

Rural tourism, agritourism, religious tourism, and ecotourism are alternatives or complementary economic activities that could further stimulate rural development while decreasing rural community dependency on one main economic sector (agriculture, forestry, energy, or mining).

Mohammad Omid, the then vice president for rural development, said in November 2020 that for the first time in the country, the migration of people from rural areas to cities has reached zero.

Since 2003, some 37,919 village administration offices have been established nationwide, offering services to about 95 percent of the country’s rural population.

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Hossein Shirzad who is also the chairman of the Board of the Directors of the Central Organization of the Rural Cooperatives of Iran (CORC), said organizing the cropping procedures, good agriculture practice, and applying modern agro-technologies through the development of the farmers’ organization constitute the existential philosophy of the CORC.

“The ultimate goal of CORC is to facilitate the sustainable and integrated development of rural areas and agriculture cooperatives. CORC is realizing the above-mentioned goal through the development of the rural and agricultural cooperatives or other forms of the Farmers’ organizations as well as enhancing the efficiency of the existing cooperatives. Procurement of agricultural inputs and machinery, production, purchasing, collecting, packing, processing, and marketing of the crops accompanied by the social empowerment of the farmers are the main activities of the CORC.”, the official said.

Explaining the legal background of the CORC, Shirzad implied that according to the Act of the Rural Cooperative Societies, enacted in 1972, a cooperative is developed through joining the natural and legal entities together to the end of meeting the common needs and improving the social and economic welfare by self-help and mutual aid. Meanwhile, he went on, according to the Article 73 of the above-mentioned Act and the Statutes of the Rural and agricultural cooperatives, farmers,  sericulture farmers, apiculture farmers, and rural craftsmen develop a cooperative to meet the common and personal needs including purchasing staple goods, procurement of the professional facilities including fodder, poultry feed, agricultural machinery, and transportation facilities, accommodation, drinking and agricultural water for common exploitation.

“Based on the Act of the Rural Cooperative Societies, enacted in 1972, there have been developed 2780 rural cooperatives by now.  About 4.6 million of farmers by membership in these cooperatives are enjoying their services.

The rural and agricultural cooperatives with their relevant unions, as the executive arms of the agricultural sector, are providing different services in the field of the agriculture value chain”, he added.

Describing the hierarchical structure of the rural and agricultural cooperatives, he said that the Central Union of the Rural Production Cooperatives (CURPC) has 30 provincial unions with 683 members.

Elaborating the structural data of the specialized cooperatives, the official referred to the egg-laying chicken agro-cooperatives &unions, he mentioned that this union has 17 members as the provincial members while the individual members of these cooperatives throughout the country amount 1184 farmers. Meanwhile, the central union of the broiler chicken agro-cooperative with 27 provincial unions provides service to 21946 poultry farmers organized in 270 agro cooperatives nationwide.

Central Union of Iran Animal Farmers (CUIFA) has three members including 31 provincial unions and 476 livestock agro-cooperatives at the county level.

The total memberships of these cooperatives at the primary level are 467,317 animal farmers throughout the country”, he added. Also, he said the Iran Zamin Apiculture union with 36 unions at the provincial level provides service for more than 65000 members nationwide.

Implying the statistical data of the specialized national agro-unions including horticulture union, fishery union, cotton, and breeding union, and light cattle union and tea farmers union Shirzad said that CORC has more than 1825 rural consumer shops and 248 milk collecting centers.

” The capacity of the cold storages and Silages of the CORC amount 60,000 tones and 90,000 tons respectively. Meanwhile, this organization has 28 sorting units, 41 food processing factory and 68 agro-factories which facilitate to improve the welfare of farmers through complementation of the agricultural value chain,” he added

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