In the Near East and North Africa region, Iran has the second largest economy (after Saudi Arabia) and population (after Egypt). Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas reserves and third in oil reserves.1 The agriculture and rural sector share in the GDP has declined in the last twenty years and yet is the source of income for more than 15 million people in rural areas.2 One quarter of the rural population is landless and of those who own land, one third are smallholders. Those within this segment of the population often fall below or just within the poverty line and face high underemployment rates. Some of the main development challenges at the national level are the harsh conditions of the physical environment and low productivity of small-holder farmers. Food security challenges include lack of self-sufficiency in major staple crops and inadequate access to food in terms of quantity of daily energy intake. The Iranian Government has adopted a comprehensive strategy envisioning market-based reforms as reflected in the 20-year Vision document and Iran’s fifth Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP 2011–15). The Government envisioned a large privatization programme in its 2010-2015 five-year plan, aiming to privatize 20 percent of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) each year. Moreover, Iran’s 2012 Doing Business ranking is in the bottom tiers of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, at 144th overall. Only Algeria, Iraq, and Djibouti rank lower among MENA countries