Azerbaijan, Baku, May.21/ Trend R.Zamanov
By allocating 2.1 trillion rials (some $171.2 million), Iran will carry out a three-year plan to become self-sufficient in rice production.
In the first phase, some 700 billion rials ($57 million) will be invested in the northern Gilan province, the ISNA News Agency reported.
According to Mehdi Kabuli, an official with the country's Agricultural Jihad Ministry, Iran needs to import 500,000 tons of rice each year.
Iran's annually rice output currently stands at around 2.4 million tons. It is while the country's annual rice consumption is around 2.8 million tons.
Iranian Deputy Agricultural Jihad Minister Jahangir Porhemmat said in December that Iran will reach self-sufficiency in rice production in the current Iranian calendar year which started March 21.
According to the Agriculture Jihad ministry's plan, Iran was supposed to reach self-sufficiency in the rice production field by the end of the previous calendar year (March 20).