Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 8
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
The Iranian government has bought over ten million tons of wheat from farmers from the beginning of harvest this year, Ali Ghanbari, the country’s deputy agriculture minister, said.
The figure indicates a rise by 25 percent compared to the preceding year, Ghanbari said, Mehr news agency reported Aug. 8.
He further said Iran has reached self- sufficiency in wheat production, adding for the first time in recent years Iran’s wheat output has surpassed consumption.
The country is able to export at least two million tons of wheat this year, Ghanbari said.
He said that the administration will pay 128 trillion rials to the farmers for purchased wheat( each USD makes 31,019 rials).
Earlier, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the Iranian government’s spokesman, said the domestic wheat production costs more for the Iranian government, in comparison with importing it.
He noted that the administration buys wheat from farmers at 12,000 rials per kilogram, while import costs less than 9,000 rials per kilogram.
According to Nobakht, this is done to support the domestic production.
Food security is a serious matter for Iran given the size of its population, which has grown over 80 million with the country’s food basket shrinking.
Wheat is the dominant crop cultivated in Iran, accounting for almost 70 percent of aggregate cereal production. Irrigated wheat covers almost one-third of the total wheat area. As a result, the bulk of the wheat crop depends on the performance of seasonal precipitation.