Over the past couple of years, more than two million houses have been built in rural areas and some 500,000 houses have been renovated, as well, Azizollah Mahdian, the Foundation’s deputy director, said, ISNA reported.

Moreover, the Welfare Organization will provide 35,169 residential units for underprivileged families across the country over the current [Iranian calendar] year.

The construction of 10,000 houses will begin this year, Zolfaqar Yazdanmehr, deputy head of the Organization, said in April.

In the Iranian calendar years 1398 (March 2019-March 2020) and 1399 (March 2020-March 2021), 14,700 and 16,500 residential units have been provided to the deprived, respectively, he noted.

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).

The budget for rural development projects has increased by 2.5 times in the current [Iranian calendar] year compared to that of the previous year.

A total of 80 trillion rials (nearly $1.9 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) were allocated this year for the implementation of rural development projects across the country.

The credit will be spent on preparing, reviewing, and implementing the rural plans, improving the rural infrastructure, and the development of the villages.

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.

Mohammad Omid, the 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.

The unemployment rate in rural areas has reached 7.4 percent, which has decreased by over one percent compared to last year.

In October 2020, Omid stated that the rural development projects worth 130 trillion rials (nearly $3 billion) were inaugurated on the occasion of the National Day of Villagers and Nomads.

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Called “Back to the Village”, the plan provides special facilities to the villagers who migrated to the cities and helps them make a living returning to their place of birth.

Many rural residents migrate to the cities due to unemployment and the hope of making a better future, Seyed Amir Hossein Madani, Managing Director of Barakat Foundation said.

With the implementation of this plan, 5,000 jobs are planned to be created this year, and if we succeed in creating 15,000 jobs, 60,000 people, with an average of 4 members per family, will return to the village from urban to rural areas, he added, ISNA reported on Friday.

The Barakat Foundation has various activities, but the main activity is in the field of job creation and production, he stated, adding, “Investment has been made in nearly 800 enterprises and production units, small and large, which has led to the creation of more than 200,000 jobs over the last 14 years.”

According to Madani, this project has been implemented in 621 areas of the country and 297 cities, and 8,035 villages have been covered so far.

This year, a total of 135 trillion rials (nearly $3.2 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) budget will be allocated for job creation with the participation of banks and people, he concluded.

Downward trend of migration from rural areas to cities

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.

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 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.

A total of 220 trillion rials (nearly $5.6 billion) has been approved for the development of villages in the current year (March 2020-March 2021), Omid said.

Some 140 trillion rials (about $3.3 billion) have so far been spent, he noted, adding, the unemployment rate in rural areas has reached 7.4 percent, which has decreased by over one percent compared to last year.

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Hanam Village – Lorestan

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“Some 900 billion rials (about $19.7 million) of finance is to be granted for supplying electricity to these villages,” Valieddin Maslahati Sharbiani said.

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Located in Sistan-Baluchestan province, the village is widely famous for being a living museum of potteries, where the in-house expertise has been passed down generations to generations over the course of history.

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization has organized a celebration ceremony under the auspices of the World Crafts Council (WCC), CHTH quoted Behrouz Isazadehi, a provincial tourism official, as saying on Tuesday.

Envoys from the WCC– Asia Pacific Region will attend the event as well, Isazadeh added.

Iran has a total of six cities and one village honored with the prestigious WCC tag.

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