Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar.5/ Trend F.Milad
Iran has imported 3.4 million tons of agricultural products worth over 2.57 billion dollars in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year, Seyed Reza Noorani, deputy head of Iran Exports Confederation, said on Tuesday.
Iran's agricultural products' exports will surpass three billion dollars by the end of the current year (March 20), the Fars News Agency quoted Noorani as saying.
Mohammad Taqi Lashgari, an official with the Iran Central Chamber of Cooperatives said in February that Iran's agricultural growth rate currently stands at 1.4 per cent.
It is while based on the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2011) the growth rate was supposed to reach 6.4 per cent, he said.
Iran currently produces 110,000 tons of agricultural products per year although while based on the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan it was supposed to hit 150,000 tons, Lashgari explained.
Iran currently produces some 118 million tons of garden products per year, he said.
Iran is the Middle East and North Africa's greatest producer of garden products and ranks ninth in the world, an official with the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad said on October 22.
Iran has been ranked between eight and tenth in global fruit production in different years.
In the production of pomegranates and pistachios Iran ranks first, in dates and cherries third, fourth in the production of apples and walnuts, and seventh in producing citrus fruits. 50 kinds of fruits are grown in Iran.
The record for pomegranate production is 100 tons per hectare of land, 146 ton for apples and 70 tons for oranges.