FNA – Iranian agricultural officials said that a bigger volume of wheat is expected to be harvested this year due to increase in rainfall in the 2019 water year, reassuring that the country will still stay self-sufficient for wheat.
Iran has envisaged producing at least 13.5 tons of wheat during the current crop year, which started in late September, said Esmaeil Esfandiaripour, the official in charge of the “Wheat Project” – the government policy to purchase the crop from farmers at a guaranteed price.
He added that Iranian farmers have cultivated wheat in 2 million hectares of irrigated and 3.85 million hectares of rain-fed land, and are expecting to harvest some 13.5 million tons of the product during this crop year.
Crop year for wheat in Iran starts on Sep. 23, concurrent with water year.
Should the plan come into fruition, the country will remain self-sufficient in meeting domestic demand just like the past couple of years, he added.