Majority of Iran's land area has wasteland, deserts and mountains, which are barren. The remaining land area, approximately, 11% of it was covered with forest. Approximately, 8 percent of the land was grazed. The rest 1.5 percent of the land area had industries, cities as well as villages. This was the scenario in the year 1980. Many people in Iran have been subjected to irregularities of land distribution.
Irregularities led to disputes and created ill feelings between farmers, who used to lead a stagnant life and between those who were mostly nomads. The nomads were mainly shepherds. All this necessitated the implementation of land reform in Iran.
Land reform in Iran to restore political make up:
Land reform in Iran was executed with a view of attaining stability in politics. In Iran the land reform policies were introduced, not to address the problems of the agricultural workers, at least in the initial stages. During the the year 1963, the economy was in doldrums. The economic anomalies and consequent political unrest had to be addressed to immediately. Land reform in Iran was successful to a great extent in bringing the economy back on the tracks. As per norms, under land reform, large stretches of land were converted into smaller set ups. The land reform in Iran was backed by the United States of America. The failure of land reform in Iran (backed by US) failed due to the fact that the interests of the local people were not taken into consideration.
Changes in land reform during Islamic Revolution:
Land reform in Iran was further facilitated by the Islamic Revolution in the year 1979. This time the focus was on redistribution as well as nationalizing landed property. The political scenario was still not very stable then and taking any new initiative in the economic set up was quite unlikely.
Farmers had to face a tough time because of the war between Iran and Iraq during the period 1980 to 1988. Few of the farmers took control of the situation by creating cooperatives. These cooperatives were endorsed by the local government. Farmers hardly knew that they would be losing their assets very soon. During the course of distribution of land, most of the farmers were compelled to sell their landed property. Some of the farmers reverted back to serve the landlords, while there were some who went to distant places in search of an appropriate opening.
Of late, many NGOs have taken up projects to look into management of natural resources. Majority of the farmers who were nomadic were blamed for destroying the natural conditions of the soil. The land reform Program in Iran in the year 1962 was executed in three different stages. It looked into matters related to the redistribution of land. Redistribution prevented the landlords from exercising unnecessary supremacy over the peasants. This program worked towards the improvement of the peasants. The program concluded in the year 1971. By then, most of the peasants who had owned land were enjoying title rights. This indicates that the program was a definite success that eliminated the wrong doings of the dominating landlords in Iran.