Azerbaijan, Baku Aug. 28 / Trend, N. Umid /
Some 60-70 per cent of released statistics about Iranian agriculture production are unreal, board member of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Mohsen Jalalpour said, Iranian Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper reported.
The administration has released unreal statistics regarding agricultural products including dairy, fodder and horticultural products during the past few years, he said.
He made the remarks during the first meeting of the secretaries of the Iranian regional Chambers 'Agriculture Committees, the report said.
Last year some 40 per cent of Iran's citrus production was destroyed in fridges due to mismanagement, head of the Chamber's Agriculture Committee, Shamsali Hadizadeh said during the meeting.
He also remarked giving consideration to Iran's water shortage problem, exporting watermelons has no other result than a loss, adding that, at least its current export price should be increased.
Iran exported $4.2 billion worth of agricultural products in the last solar year (ended on March 21), the head of the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran (TPOI) Hamid Safdel announced.
Based on statistics, Iran is ranked the 30th worldwide in terms of exporting food products, the official mentioned.
On January 20, IRNA quoted the Agriculture Ministry official Naser Tavakkoli as saying that Iran plans to increase its agricultural exports to 118 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year from 107 million tons in the past year.
Recent currency devaluations tied to international sanctions and lower oil exports are raising concerns about food security in the country, according to the FAO.
Iran's wheat harvest is almost finished and may total about 14.5 million tons, up about five per cent from the 13.8 million tons collected a year earlier, the FAO said.
Total grain production may be 21.85 million tons, up 3.4 per cent from a year earlier including 3.2 million tons of barley and 2.4 million tons of rice.