Afforestation

Agriculture is referred to the use of agricultural or horticultural operations to produce or cultivate plants in agricultural lands with the aim of generating profits and in the shortest possible time. Afforestation refers to the cultivation of fast-growing species of the tree using similar operations and has a long history in Iran. Today, due to the increasing demand for wood resources, special tree species such as Eucalyptus, Populous, Pine, etc. are cultivated for economic purposes by farmers in various vegetation areas of Iran.
In the vegetative regions of Hyrkanian, Zagros, Arasbaran and other regions, a variety of populus and eucalyptus are planted. In hot areas, including the vegetation of the Persian Gulf, and other tropical regions, the aphyla tamarix is also cultivated as an afforestation. In Iran, and in the context of woody farming, most of all, Eucalyptus species and Poplar cultivars are considered. Iran with about 11 million hectares of forest is ranked 54th among the 193 most forested countries in the world. This forest cover 6.72% of the country's surface. Planted forests are 300 million hectares or 8 percent of the total forests in the world with an annual increase of about 5 million hectares (FAO, 2018). This amount has risen from 167.5 million hectares in 1990 to 300 million hectares in 2017. These forests include sources of timber and lumber, cellulose fibers, firewood, and other types of wood, as well as non-wood forest products, which together provide raw materials for more than 4,500 types of products, and are in sustainable development category, with highly favorable economic and environmental benefits. China with 80 million hectares of planted forests, followed by America 26.5, Russia 20, Canada 16, Sweden 14, India 12, Japan 10.5, Brazil 8, Finland 7, Sudan 6.5, Germany 5.5, Indonesia 5, Ukraine 5, Thailand 4, Vietnam 3.7, Turkey 3.5, Chile 3, Spain 3, New Zealand 2.1, and Australia with 2 million hectares are top 20 countries in the subject of afforestation in the world. There are also statistics showing that there are about 250,000 hectares of planted forest in Iran. About 160,000 hectares have been planted out of the north provinces and about 90,000 hectares have been planted in the north.
With the development of fast growing species and the achievement of a higher level of wood production per hectare, decreasing the time of exploitation and rising wood prices, it is possible to compete afforestation with other crops. The importance of the development of afforestation in Iran, with an annual production of 2.5 cubic meters per hectare from the northern forests of the country (the total annual legal harvest of about 750,000 cubic meters) and the annual consumption of wood in the country (annually about 10 million cubic meters) is revealed.