Tehran, Iran, September 6
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
The Iranian government has bought 8.834 million tons of wheat from the country’s farmers in the current crop year so far, government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said at a press conference.
The value of the wheat so bought is 115.46 trillion rials (near $3.47 billion, each USD at 33,280 rials), Nobakht said, Trend's correspondent reported from the presser September 5.
He noted that 1.58 trillion rials of the money has already been paid to the farmers.
Over 52 percent of Iran’s agricultural lands are under wheat farming. Iran’s total agricultural lands are about 12 million hectares.
Iran has decreased the wheat farming area by 600,000 hectares in the past three years.
The Iranian administration purchased 11.5 million tons of wheat from farmers in last year to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat production. Iran’s wheat production reached 14 million tons that year.
Almost 7.5 million tons of wheat is used by bakery units in Iran and the country’s food industry also needs 2.5 million tons of wheat every year.