BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 14
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Investments in the agricultural processing industry in Kermanshah Province (western Iran) have increased by more than 1,000 percent over the past seven years (when Iran's current government came to power in 2013), Director of Agriculture Department of Kermanshah Province Nurbakhsh Hatami told IRNA, Trend reports.
According to Hatami, seven years ago, the volume of investments in this area was 91.4 billion rials (about $2.17 million). At present, this figure has reached 1.11 trillion rials (about $26.6 million).
Hatami added that in 2013, the intake of raw materials in the agricultural processing industry of the province was 100,000 tons per year, while currently this figure has increased by 223 percent to 326,000 tons.
The director noted that the number of people employed in the processing industry in the province increased by 281 percent from 126 to 480 people.
"The number of enterprises put into operation in the agricultural processing industry of Kermanshah Province increased by 147 percent from 15 to 37 enterprises," he said.
Hatami emphasized that about 34 percent growth was recorded in the fishery sector of the province over the past seven years. Thus, if 16,000 tons of fish products were produced seven years ago, at present the province produces 21,500 tons of fish products a year.
Iran's Kermanshah province covers an area of 25,000 square kilometers. The population of this province is about 2 million people. Kermanshah province has more than 950,000 hectares of agricultural land. The province produces more than 4.4 million tons of agricultural products a year.