“Farm Corporations” on the DEZ – Iran's Approach to Rural Development

Abstract

Shamsabad is a small rural village in the Khusestan region of southwestern Iran and within sight of ancient Persepolis, the magnificent city of the Persian Empire. In 1969, its 80 farm families and 60 laborer families were living at near subsistence levels in a mud-walled village about the size of 20 city blocks. They were dependent upon a non-technical and comparatively primitive agriculture which had existed in the region for many generations.