Tehran, Iran, June 28
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
Iran is spending $3 billion to import oilseeds into the country, an official with the Mazandaran province’s Oil Crops Research and Development Center said.
“Additional efforts need to be made [by the government] in order to address the country’s needs in the sector of oilseeds,” Keyvan Farhang-Asa said on June 28, IRIB news agency reported.
He added that the government is currently importing $3 billion worth of oilseeds to the country, which accounts for 90 percent of the country’s demand.
Stressing that Iran’s share in oilseeds production is only 10 percent, the official called on the government to take the necessary measures and reduce the import of the crop.
Farhang-Asa further said that 30,000 hectares of land are under cultivation in the northern province of Gilan, which mainly grows soybean and rapeseed.
"We need to expand the scope of our research and move towards economical farming by grouping pest-resistant crops in a bid to help farmers."
More farmland should be brought under cultivation, the head of the Mazandaran province’s Oil Crops Research and Development Center concluded.
The Iranian Ministry of Agriculture plans to achieve 70 percent self-sufficiency in oilseed production in the next 10 years. Per capita vegetable oil consumption in Iran is about 18-19 kilograms a year. The global average is 12 kilograms. Rapeseed is one of the main oilseeds cultivated in Iran.