Sarah Sani

Soil and Water Research Institute (SWRI)

SWRI is one of the active research institutes currently affiliated to the "Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization" of the Ministry of Agriculture. SWRI with headquarters located in Karaj is responsible for the supervision and coordination of research programs conducted by the provincial soil and water research departments operating in 31 agricultural research centers and the more than 100 experiment stations throughout the country. There are 7 research departments in SWRI, with about 40 scientific staff almost all PhD holders, in the headquarter and more than 150 scientific staff in more than 30 research centers all around the country. History After the establishment of "Independent Irrigation Institute" in Iran back in 1952 for the purpose of identifying and classifying the country's land resources with the primary objectives of regulating water supplies and developing the supportive irrigation networks needed for the expansion of modern farming, the "Soil Fertility Department" was set up within the Ministry of Agriculture and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the late 1950s to conduct research and extension work for the promotion of mineral fertilizer use in Iran. Subsequent to the integration of the "Independent Irrigation Institute" in the newly-established Ministry of Water and Power in 1966, the Ministry of Agriculture founded the "Soil Institute of Iran", pulling research staff members from both the "Independent Irrigation Institute" and the "Soil Fertility Department" to pursue the task of identifying and mapping the country's agricultural soils and promote the efficient use of soil and water sources. With the emergence of the "Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization" as an effective tool of the Ministry of Agriculture in research in the 1980s and the implementation of comprehensive policy guidelines in addressing priorities and coordinating the activities of various research entities functioning within the Ministry of Agriculture, the "Soil Institute of Iran" assumed new functions and responsibilities in research under its present title of the "Soil and Water Research Institute (SWRI)".