President Raisi was speaking at the ministry of agriculture.
Raisi said the modified cultivation patterns must be based on reduced water consumption and production of better produce in larger quantities.
The president added that the key mission of the ministry of agriculture is to provide sustainable food security for Ian.
He noted that the ministry must be able to provide healthy, quality and inexpensive food for Iranians with an emphasis on self-sufficiency and independence of the country.
Iranian environment officials and water experts have long implored water authorities and farmers to review their policy of growing water-intensive crops.
They stress that Iran must come to terms with the realities of living in an arid region and with the fact that its resources aren’t deep enough to allow the country to grow crops that gobble up water like watermelons.
Experts say Iran’s water scarcity will hit crisis level by 2025, when available renewable water will be less than 1,000 cubic meters per capita, down from 2,000 cubic meters in 1950.
They also say if water consumption patterns do not change in the near future, many parts of Iran will turn into barren desert and the entire towns and villages will become uninhabitable.
