Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
A high-ranking agriculture official has expressed hopes that fish farming cages would boost Iran’s output of fishery over the current fiscal year starting March 20.
Iranian agriculture minister, Mahmoud Hojjati, has said that the country’s fishery output over the current fiscal year is estimated to surpass one million tons, ILNA news agency reported.
The minister forecasted that fish farming cages would double the output over the fiscal 2017/18 year.
Iran has the capacity to produce 1 million tons of fish in cages in the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, according to the country’s fishery officials.
The country’s overall fishery exports reached 82,451 tons, worth $283 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The newly-appointed CEO of Agriculture Bank of Iran, Ruhollah Khodarahmi, in an early February interview described the projects for breeding fishes in cages as a prioritized plan, adding that his bank is expected to allocate $350 million to such projects.