TEHRAN, Iran, August 15. Iran is starting the contract farming project of cultivating wheat in 250,000 hectares area and rice in 45,000 hectares, said Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejad, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.
The Ministry of Agriculture aims to develop contract farming as a modern method that is adaptable to Iran's agricultural circumstances.
The following pilot project will produce 2 million hectares of wheat however there is concern over financial support, he noted.
Sadatinejad pointed out that the ministry has reduced the price of fertilizers by 43 percent for the farmers as part of contract farming.
According to the National Wheat Farmers Foundation, the government bought more than 4 million tons of wheat worth 480 trillion rials (over $1.5 billion) from local farmers from the beginning of the harvest season on March 24 to June 30, which shows a 28 percent growth in tonnage compared with the similar period of last year.