On his arrival in Shiraz, the entire province was in total chaos. His first task was to prevent the spread of a famine. He carried this out by organising Iran's first agricultural cooperative. To ensure his acceptance by the people of Shiraz he took his fifth wife, Fatemeh Khanum, from one of the leading local families. He also raised an all-Iranian regiment to restore security and order to the province with the help of British General Percy Sykes who referred to Farman Farma as "my friend" in his famous "History of Persia". Sykes referred to Farman Farma, who was well known as an Anglophile, as "one of the ablest men in Iran".