Tehran, Iran, Sept. 21
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iran expects to produce 2.2 million tons of rice in the current crop year which started on Sept. 22, according to Kaveh Khaksar, director of Grains and Staples Department at the Ministry of Agriculture.
A program is underway to make Iran self-sufficient with regard to this strategic product, he told Radio Eqtesad Sept. 21.
Khaksar explained that the program is aimed at enabling domestic farmers to produce a minimum of 65 percent of the country’s rice demand.
Last year Iranian farmers produced 1.75 million tons of rice. The country’s per capita rice consumption is 37 kilograms per year. Iran’s population is a little above 80 million.
The official expressed concern that due to lack of advanced farming methods, each cubic meter of water spent in rice cultivation produces only 150 grams of the product in Iran, noting that the world average is 500 grams of rice per cubic meter of water.
Iran’s rice demand is 3 million tons a year. The country imports rice mostly from India to meet the demand.