TEHRAN- Iran’s wheat production is expected to exceed 14 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), IRNA quoted Esmaeil Esfandiari-Pour, the advisor to agriculture minister as saying on Monday.

According to Esfandiari-Pour, the wheat harvest has begun in nine hot and dry southern provinces, and the last amount of wheat purchased has exceeded 1.6 million tons.

The official mentioned some of the Agriculture Ministry’s programs for improving wheat production in the current year and said implementation of supportive programs like providing seed, pesticides, expert consultations, and technical supervision, as well as damage control programs like weed control have been among the ministry’s programs for boosting wheat production this year.

He stated that over six million hectares of land across the country are under wheat cultivation, adding: “one-third of these lands are irrigated and the rest is rain-fed.”

The official further emphasized the necessity of supporting knowledge-based companies that are working in his area for introducing new wheat cultivars.

According to the official, the wheat harvest season is approximately 4.5 months in Iran starting in early April up to mid-August.

Based on the agriculture ministry data, Iranian farmers produced nearly 14.5 million tons of wheat in the previous Iranian calendar year, 1.2 million tons more than the figure for its preceding year.

According to Esfandiari-Pour, who is also the head of the government program to buy wheat from farmers, Iran’s use of improved seed technology over the past five years has boosted the country’s self-sufficiency in wheat by more than 30 percent.

Good precipitation across Iran has also resulted in a prosperous harvest in various agricultural sectors across the country.

Iran’s wheat harvest is enough to make the county self-sufficient in the production of this strategic crop for the fifth year in a row, according to the official.

EF/MA