THE FATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE SEMIARID REGIONS OF WESTERN IRAN - A CASE-STUDY OF THE HAMADAN REGION

The semi-arid regions of Iran are under increasing pressure to supply the staple grains required by the steadily growing population. The Ham adan plateau, an ancient area at the foot of the Central Zagros mounta in (354 m asl at the Alwand peak), was chosen to carry out an analysis of the agricultural systems (traditional vs modem) and to assess thei r sustainability. Several indicators from the ecosystem and sociosyste m were implemented to compare the two systems. Like many other places in Iran, also in the Hamadan region agriculture is undergoing a fast c hange from subsistenance to an advanced level. The resulted changes in social structure, which caused the disruption of the co-evolutionary equilibrium reached over long time by the traditional systems, are ana lysed.