TEHRAN - Fifty-one MPs have signed a motion to impeach Agricultural Jihad Minister Mohammad-Reza Eskandari, MP Daryush Qanbari said here on Monday.

According to a parliamentary investigation, the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad is the most inefficient and the least synchronized with the Majlis, Qanbari told the Mehr News Agency.

The move is meant to help the Ahmadinejad administration improve its cabinet, he added.

“Jihad should be at the service of production not importation. Our agriculture is on the verge of collapse. Our farmers’ crops are piled up in storehouses while we import fruit from Pakistan,” he explained.

This is treasonous, he declared.

“It was announced that we have reached self-sufficiency in wheat production, but at the same time we are importing two million tons of wheat every year. Common sense tells us one of these statements is wrong,” Qanbari argued.

He noted that the parliament had prepared the impeachment motion two months ago, but MPS put it on the back burner to give President Mahmud Ahmadinejad time to improve his cabinet.

“But when that did not happen, the Majlis decided to help Ahmadinejad and review the performance of the ministers who do not possess the required skill and experience,” stated Qanbari, who sits on the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. He went on to say that the MPs also intend to file motions in parliament to impeach two other ministers, adding, “We have started with the weakest minister.”

MP Eshrat Shayeq said that the Majlis deputies are seeking to provide an opportunity for the government to critique the performance of the minister.

“They want to excise the ambiguities,” she told MNA on Monday.

The incidents that happened in the areas of agriculture, natural resources, and watershed management over the past year show that the relevant officials are not competent, she said.

“This is a good opportunity for the government to find out what has happened in the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad over the past year,” she added.

Parliamentarian Ali Zadsar said that the Majlis would not take action if the president investigated the performance of the ministry himself.

“The process of impeaching a minister inflicts many costs on the related ministry and the country as well,” he added.

Zadsar said he signed the impeachment motion because of the issue of self-sufficiency in wheat production, the failure to address the problems of drought-stricken farmers, and the fact that Ahmadinejad’s promises to farmers during his provincial trips have not been fulfilled.

“Ahmadinejad himself has raised the people’s expectations of officials, so we will wait to see if he will be successful,” said.