Imbalance in food security is lurking if I am not vigilant.
Imbalance in food security is lurking if I am not vigilant.
In the new global order, food is not merely a consumable commodity or production institutions; in the 21st century, food has become a strategic factor in the national power of countries, a factor that can be as decisive in power and survival equations as energy, technology, or weapons.
Now, food security is analyzed not at the level of sectoral ministries but on the scale of national security, foreign policy, and geopolitical competitions.
This conceptual transformation necessitates that food governance transition from a production-oriented logic to a security-oriented and multilayered model, in a situation where global food paradigms are constantly oscillating between the two conceptual poles of food security and food sovereignty, each surpassing the other at political, economic, or climatic junctures.
In the past two decades, food crises have repeatedly turned into political instability and social protests worldwide. In Tunisia, in December 2010, the spark of public protests was ignited by the self-immolation of a street vendor against the backdrop of rising food prices and unemployment.
This wave quickly spread to Egypt in January 2011, where the price of bread and wheat shortages were among the fundamental factors in igniting the popular revolution against the Mubarak regime. In Sudan, in December 2018, the government’s decision to triple the price of bread immediately led to nationwide protests, ultimately resulting in the fall of Omar al-Bashir’s government in April 2019.
In Sri Lanka, in the years 2021 and 2022, the government’s decision to ban chemical fertilizer imports and a hasty move towards organic farming led to a fall in domestic production, food shortages, an inflation explosion, and widespread unrest, culminating in the president’s flight in July 2022.
Today, food is not just a need in Maslow’s hierarchy but a necessity for the survival of states. Global powers, understanding this precisely, have brought food into the service of their foreign policy and power. Russia, using the Ukraine war and blocking grain export routes, has pressured importing countries.
China, on one hand, by overseas farming and purchasing agricultural lands in Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia, is taking control of the future food supply chain, and on the other hand, by utilizing artificial intelligence, remote sensing systems, climate data analysis, and domestic satellite networks, has based its food policy on accuracy, predictability, and smart agriculture.
The European Union is also developing smart agricultural infrastructure, robotics, geographic information systems, and data-driven management of agricultural resources.
In our region, the United Arab Emirates, with the development of vertical farms and smart drones, Saudi Arabia with massive greenhouse projects in desert environments, and Turkey with the modernization of mechanization fleets and the use of new technologies in production and distribution, are constructing a technological shield for their food security.
Israel, focusing on water-saving technologies, smart drip irrigation, genetic modification and manipulation, and the export of digital agricultural technologies to various countries, has established itself as one of the technological powers in food security in the region.
The United States, especially in 2025, coinciding with the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidential term, has taken specific steps to redefine its food independence.
Trump, by imposing new tariffs on agricultural imports, especially from rival countries, aims to strengthen domestic production, reduce dependency on foreign chains, and rebuild America’s geopolitical bargaining capacity.
These tariffs, although introduced in the name of supporting American farmers, can be analyzed as part of the strategic competition between the United States and China in controlling the future of global food security.
Simultaneously, global food governance has also been elevated to a security level. Today, analysts directly relate the issue of food to international peace and stability.
But this is not the whole story. Today, we are witnessing a phenomenon in the world referred to as ‘food as a weapon.’ This approach, especially in recent years and worryingly, has manifested in Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip. Israel has extensively restricted the entry of food, water, fuel, and medicine into Gaza.
This action has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, which the United Nations, the World Food Programme, and international human rights organizations have described as a clear instance of deliberate starvation and a gross violation of humanitarian rights.
Using food as a tool for collective punishment is not only a clear violation of the fundamental principles of human rights but also signifies the overt entry of food as a weapon in contemporary conflicts—a weapon without bullets but with devastating consequences.
In the governance of food security in the Islamic Republic, the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad is one of the main players and responsible for its sustainable supply.
However, it seems that the lack of a strategic view on food security and sovereignty, and consequently the position of this ministry in the country’s governance structure on one hand, and on the other hand, the absence of this perspective within the ministry’s body, has been one of the influential drivers of such a situation.
As a result, despite complex geopolitical realities and economic vulnerabilities, food security in the country is still managed at a sectoral and day-to-day level, and the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad does not hold a strategic position in the governance structure.
The potential disruption of domestic market regulation, price fluctuations, dissatisfaction among producers and consumers, instability in agricultural businesses, shrinking of people’s tables in the short term, and national imbalances, the aging of the agricultural mechanization fleet, low technology penetration in the agricultural sector, political and logistical complexities of the global food market, increasing age of farmers, reduced investment in the agricultural sector, and in the long term, pose a threat to our food security.
All these underscore the necessity for a structural transformation in the view of food security in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This transformation must be realized simultaneously at two levels: first, at the level of governance, where food must be defined and policy-crafted as a fundamental component of national security, and second, at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, which requires an identity and institutional reconstruction to transition from sectoral management to playing a role in the strategic architecture of national power.
Today, more than ever, Iran needs a perspective on food security that defines food security not merely in production statistics but in the equations of power, social resilience, and political order.
In this view, the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad should elevate from the position of a production executor and market regulator to a strategic actor in national security, just as the Ministry of Defense is not only the supplier of weapons but holds the responsibility for planning, coordinating, supporting, and expanding the defensive capabilities of the country’s armed forces and equipping them to counter potential threats.
