TEHRAN- Iran’s annual agricultural production is predicted to rise six million tons to 128 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020), ILNA reported, quoting Mohammad-Ali Tahmasbi, the deputy agriculture minister for gardening affairs.

Iran’s total agricultural production in various sectors including horticulture, livestock, poultry and aquaculture reached 122 million tons in the past Iranian calendar year.

In the past forty years, since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has witnessed a remarkable improvement in various sectors and the agriculture industry has been one of the areas in which the country has undergone huge development.

Revolutionizing the agriculture industry through implementing billions of dollars worth of development, research and educational projects across the country has been one of the main reasons for the significant improvements in this sector in recent years.

On January 31, managing director of Iran’s Agricultural Parks Company (APC) said more than 80,000 tons of agricultural products have been produced in the country’s agricultural parks since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019).

“This year, production in agricultural parks has reached 80,000 tons, however, considering the output from the subsidiary companies the total production would exceed 183,000 tons,” IRIB reported, quoting Ali-Ashraf Mansouri as saying.

He further referred to some of the problems that the country’s agriculture is facing and said: “Reducing the impacts of droughts caused by reduced rainfall in recent years and increasing efficiency of water consumption in agriculture are among the top programs followed by APC.”

According to Mansouri, more than 78 trillion rials (about $186 million) of bank loans have been provided for investors in this area, since the beginning of the current year.

Currently, more than 87 agricultural parks are under construction across Iran, the official said.

MA/MA