BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 22
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran plans to harvest 13.5-14 million tons of wheat next planting year (September 23, 2021, through September 22, 2022), an official of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Iran Sohrab Sohrabi said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
Sohrabi stressed that Iran ranks 12th place on wheat cultivation in the world.
“Iran has allocated 6 million hectares of land for wheat cultivation next year. Of this, 2 million hectares are ordinary land, while 4 million hectares are dry-farming land,” he added.
The official noted that rainfall has significantly decreased this year. The average rainfall in Iran is 240 millimeters. Therefore, the economic use of water in the agricultural sector should be kept in focus.
According to Sohrabi, an average of 900-1,000 liters of water should be used to cultivate 1 kg of wheat in Iran. With modern irrigation methods, including micro-methods, it is possible to take steps to increase the cultivation of wheat in the country.
The official also said that in recent years, Iran's seed wheat production has increased from 290,000 tons to 370,000 tons. Efforts are being made to increase this figure to 599,000 tons.
“The consumption of wheat per capita in Iran is higher than in EU member states. So, if a person consumes 165 kilograms of wheat in Iran per year, this figure is 107-110 kg in the EU. For this reason, necessary plans must be developed to manage the consumption of wheat,” he said.
Reportedly, although 9 million tons of wheat are projected to be cultivated in Iran this year, 4.68 million tons have been purchased from farmers so far.
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