Tehran, Iran, Jan. 10
By Kamyar Eghbal – Trend:
Although the Iranian government has voiced its intention to purchase rice from farmers, the farmers still suffer from recession as dealers continue to import the staple food product into the rice-producing country.
“There are talks regarding the government buying rice from farmers, but it has not yet happened,” Baba Ramezani Bali, the head of the rice association of Babol county in Mazandaran Province, a major rice production hub of the country, told Trend.
“I think the government should help farmers with the provision of domestic crops by providing cheaper pesticides and fertilizers to farmers,” he added.
“The rice market is still in recession, which is more related to the overall economic situation in Iran, which means that if the economic situation improves, the price will change for the better, as well,” Baba Ramezani Bali believes.
Ramezani estimated the rice demand in the Iranian market at 700,000 tons annually, criticizing the “excessive imports” of the product into the country.
“With this amount of imports beside the domestic products, our demand is met, but we see further imports which is not in the interest of rice farmers,” he said.
Putting the country’s annual rice output at 2500 tons, he added that the annual consumption of each Iranian is about 36 kilograms.
Saying that the northern Iran is the main hub for rice production in the country, the official urged the importers to refrain from distributing imported rice in the northern provinces.
Back in November 2017, Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade issued a decree removing the ban on rice import for 7 months.
The Iranian government bans rice import annually with only a few months of break to support domestic producers.