Iran’s minister of agriculture Kazem Khavazi says the country’s tree plantation for timber drive has seen a massive boost in the current calendar year with some 30 million plantations recorded across the country.
Khavazi said on Monday that some 21,000 hectares of lands have been dedicated to tree plantation for timber in the year to March 20.
He said the area was around two third of all lands used for the same purpose from 2013 until March 2020.
The minister said Iran’s forestry authority had also pushed ahead with its own tree plantation for conservation scheme which covered some 35,000 hectares of forest lands across the country.
That was in addition to a conservation scheme executed across 47,000 hectares of forests and plantations carried out over 10,000 hectares of sloping lands to prevent soil erosion, he said.
Kahvazi said Iran’s tree plantation for timber push would contribute to better living conditions and a stable income for people living in areas where forestry initiatives are executed, including by jobs created in plants to process the wood from the plantations, he said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had indicated on several occasions in recent years that tree plantation for timber is one of the main components of his administration’s agriculture policy.
The policy is aimed at reducing massive imports of timber, creating jobs and preventing the devastating impacts of floods through the expansion of forests.
Khavazi said tree plantation for timber along watershed and groundwater management have been among key priorities of his ministry in recent years.
He said watershed management schemes have been implemented over one million hectares of lands across Iran in the current calendar year to help restore rural lands and to attract people to return to villages from cities.