TEHRAN – Increasing the reproduction and breeding of livestock and poultry will be promoted by implementing six national projects supported by the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

The livestock and poultry industry is one of the sectors that with the help of new technologies and knowledge-based firms can experience a growing trend and have a thriving domestic market. 

Accordingly, the Biotechnology Development Council has defined six national plans to promote the industry using the power of the country's technologists, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

The projects include the production of embryos and breeding native sheep.

The projects include production of sperm, embryos, and purebred of endangered calves, production of microchips for identification, and registration of livestock according to standards, reproduction of sheep suitable for the environmental conditions of Iran, and breeding program of native Iranian sheep, and etc.

Knowledge-based companies

Despite sanctions putting pressure on the country, a unique opportunity was provided for business development and the activity of knowledge-based companies in the country.

Currently, over 7,000 knowledge-based companies are active in the country, manufacturing diverse products to meet the needs of the domestic market while saving large amounts of foreign currency.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

In recent years, the vice presidency for science and technology has been supporting knowledge-based companies active in the production of sanctioned items.

Revenue from sales of technological products of companies located in science and technology parks in 2020 was close to 137 billion rials (nearly $3.2 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials), which compared to 4.6 billion rials (about $152,000) in 2013, shows the growth of 2878 percent.

This issue was quite evident in the export sector of these companies so that the export of knowledge-based products was equal to $1.14 million, but this amount increased to $63.2 million in 2018, while reached $98 million in 2020, despite the very harsh sanctions imposed on the country.

Vice President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari told the Tehran Times in October 2020 that “U.S. sanctions caused exports of knowledge-based companies to decline three years ago, however, it has returned to growth and is projected to reach the pre-sanctions level of more than $1 billion by the end of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 20).

Fortunately, last year, companies achieved a record sale of 1.2 quadrillion rials (nearly $28.5 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials), which is expected to increase by 40 percent this year.”

FB/MG