Iran has more than 4.2 million people engaged in farming, with the majority of them over the age of 50 and cultivating small plots of land, the country’s Statistics Center said in its latest agricultural census.
The survey found that Iran has 4.24 million agricultural operators, of whom 92% are men and 8% are women. More than 60% of the farmers are above 50 years old, highlighting concerns about an ageing rural workforce.
According to the data, Iran’s total farmland covers 17.38 million hectares, with 89% used for field crops and 11% for orchards. The census also showed that over 76% of landholders manage plots smaller than five hectares, underlining the dominance of small-scale farming in the sector.