BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 18. The amount of wheat purchased from local farmers in Iran under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season (started March 28, 2023), increased by 31 percent, compared to the same period of the previous season, Iranian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jihad, Alireza Mohajer said,Trend reports.
According to Mohajer, a total of 4.2 million tons of wheat were purchased from farmers under a guarantee in the country within the mentioned period.
The deputy minister added that so far, wheat harvesting has been completed on 1 million hectares of ordinary agricultural land and 680,000 hectares of dry-farming land.
“Iran is trying to be fully self-sufficient in wheat demand. For this purpose, sustainable cultivation of this strategic product is in the spotlight,” he said.
Overall, 13 million tons of wheat are forecasted to be harvested in Iran for the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024). Of that amount, 8-8.5 million tons are estimated to be purchased by Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC).
Meanwhile, last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), about 11.5 million tons of wheat were harvested in the country, of which 7.5 million tons were purchased by the GTC.
Last year, the price of 1 kg of wheat was set up at 115,000 rials (about $2.74), while, 1 kg of wheat is set at 150,000 rials (about $3.57) for the current season.
In total, wheat was planted on 5.95 million hectares of land in Iran in the current season. Of this, 3.96 million hectares accounted for dry-farming land, while 1.99 million hectares for ordinary agricultural land.
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