Persian famine of 1870–1872

The Persian famine of 1870–1872 was a period of mass starvation and disease in Iran (Persia) that occurred during the Qajar era.

The best documented famine in Iranian history, it affected almost the whole country. However, some cities, including Shahrud, Kerman, and Birjand, managed to avoid the catastrophe.

According to The New York Herald the famine was caused by an increase in the price of cotton that led Persian farmers to abandon grain farming and to instead plant cotton as a cash crop. Shoko Okazaki attributed the famine to two consecutive years of severe drought, while rejecting the notion that the increase in the production of Persian opium and cotton contributed to the famine. He blamed the effects of the famine on "senior bureaucrats, landlords, grain dealers and high-ranking religious officials who engaged in hoarding and market manipulation".