Virtual Water Trade and Its Relation to Sustainable Water Consumption

Average annual precipitation in Iran is 413 billion cubic meters and 130 billion cubic meters of renewable water resources, and has irregular distribution of water resources in terms of time and place. In the other hand, population growth and the need for more food has led the agricultural sector remains the largest water consumer in the country, but its production still does not meet the total demand for food . Virtual water is the amount of water used by a commodity or an agricultural product during the production process to reach the stage of growth and it is equivalent to the total amount of water at different stages of the production chain from the start to the end. Low-water countries like Iran can import products, such as food, that needs more water to produce, and save the water instead to produce in other parts of their consumption. The purpose of this library research is to study virtual water trade and food security with emphasis on the country of Iran. The results showed that with increase in dehydration process in Iran, the importance of virtual water in food security is growing. Thus, the exchange of virtual water, as a political policy in water resource management, with reasonable modifications in the structure of agriculture, would result in food security and long-term sustainable consumption of water.