FAO and Government of Iran today launched a project that stablishes a prototype agriculture monitoring system, in three provinces in the country to improve the quality of agriculture information and reporting, based on geospatial technology.

With the financial support of FAO’s Technical Cooperation Division (489.000 USD) and under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad of Iran, FAO has developed and started implementing the project entitled “Improved Agricultural Monitoring Systems through satellite imagery for IRAN ” in Mazandaran, Zanjan and Kerman provinces with the aim to assist Iran in monitoring and analysis of agricultural production, in order to achieve sustainable agricultural development.

“Our project will identify sustainable methods for field data collection to produce improved, harmonized and consolidated statistics, based on data collected by provincial agriculture offices” said Ms. Esther Kuisch Laroche the FAO Representative ad interim to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the inception workshop of the project hosted by Ministry of Agriculture Jihad.   

This project will benefit from the availability of multi-temporal satellite images for testing and monitoring of a range of crops for the selected provinces she added.

According to a press release published by the FAO Represatnion in the Islamic Republic of Iran, these satellite images will enable the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad of Iran and other Government entities that are working in the field of agriculture, to collect near real-time crop field information and use it for monitoring.

Improved monitoring of agricultural production and productivity is expected to provide various livelihood opportunities to the farming community.

The improved monitoring system will support the development of an Agricultural Market System, which will enhance food market transparency and encourage coordination of policy action in response to market uncertainty.

This project prioritizes the development of innovative approaches for agriculture monitoring, with a focus on the identification of state-of-the-art methods for acreage and yield estimation, based on the assessment of the existing monitoring methodology, and optimized through the use of remote sensing. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working closely with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in providing technical assistance in the areas of capacity building, policy and strategy development, crop production, livestock and animal health, fisheries and forest management, and emergency and rehabilitation programmes.