TEHRAN- Iranian farmers have managed to produce 2.6 million tons of rice during the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), the Secretary of Iran Rice Association Jamil Alizadeh Shayeq announced.

As the official told IRNA, the country’s rice production stood between 2.2 and 2.3 million tons in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2018-March 2019) and the increase in the production could consequently decrease the imports of the commodity.

Iran’s annual rice consumption stands at about three million tons. That means nearly 400,000 tons of the product is required to be imported into the country, according to Shayeq.

However, customs data show that nearly 700,000 tons of rice was imported into the country in the first quarter of this year (March 21-June 21), and considering the previous year’s statistics, it can be concluded that there is no shortage of rice in the country for the current year.

The official noted that the rice production was estimated to reach 2.5 million tons this year and the production has exceeded the expectations.

According to Shayegh, more than 90 percent of the country's rice is produced in the provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran in northern Iran, and less than 10 percent of the commodity is produced in the provinces of Isfahan, Ilam, Kurdistan, Khuzestan and so on.

Based on official statistics, over 620,000 hectares of the country’s agricultural lands are under rice cultivation, of which 520,000 hectares are in Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan provinces.

EF/MA