Disturbing Food Situation in Iran

Rooz Online

Within a week after the minister of labor announced that there were ten million hungry people in the country who needed food assistance, Iran’s the minister of health stepped in and presented his own dire story about the food situation.

As reported by various domestic news agencies, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi talked about the quality of food in the country, rather than posting statistics on hunger, malnutrition etc. “Reports about the food and its quality situation in the country are concerning and all agencies and decision-makers must cooperate with us to change the picture. The next step will be to implement oversight measures over the quality of food,” he said. “This will be a serious and extensive program and we hope that the judiciary will provide assistance so that we have a proper situation regarding the sale of food, industrial plants that provide food products and in the traditional food sector. This plan is different from the ones that have been implemented in the last 20 or 30 years. Food and drugs will get greater attention,” he added.

Prior to these remarks, the minister of labor, Ali Rabii, had announced that 10 million Iranians needed food assistance. He said that while there had been no dissatisfaction in the provinces, he intended to implement programs that would better distribute food there, using the Komite Emdad and the Social Welfare organizations. He said he had been directed by the president to pursue food malnutrition. He said that people from the lowest social groups are the immediate target of the program which had been developed under a plan to reduce poverty and to target government assistance and subsidies.

According to statistics provided by the Iran Statistical Center, currently the provinces of Hormozgan, Kahgilooie and Bavir Ahmad, and, Sistan and Baluchistan are among the “very insecurity” provinces regarding food. Other provinces such as Khuzestan, Kerman, Ilam and Bushehr are categorized as “insecure” food-wise. An example of this malnutrition are the deprived children in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan where one fifth of all children are underweight because of food hunger.