TEHRAN – Iran’s National Development Fund (NDF) has allocated 16 trillion rials (about $380.9 million) for the implementation of modern irrigation systems in the country’s farmlands during the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20), an official with the Agriculture Ministry said.

According to Abbas Zare, project manager of Agriculture Ministry’s new plan for irrigation systems development, this year, 162,000 hectares of farmlands are planned to be equipped with modern irrigation systems, of which 32,000 hectares have been equipped and 130,000 hectares are under operation.

As reported by ILNA, Zare noted that the Agriculture Ministry’s plan for the development of new irrigation systems has been defined in line with the resilient economy programs and has a direct impact on the country’s food security and self-sufficiency.

So far, more than 2.4 million hectares of the country's farmlands have been equipped with modern irrigation systems, the official said.

“With the effective support of the government, the implementation of this project has, so far, helped reducing the water consumptions in the equipped lands by 44 percent and increased their production by 30 percent,” Zare noted.

“The consumption of fertilizers and pesticides have also been reduced by up to 30 percent,” he added.

The project manager had earlier noted that the ministry’s plan for developing new irrigation systems has witnessed a significant leap in the past three years.

In late April, Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that the Energy Ministry has implemented 301,000 hectares of irrigation and drainage networks since 2017.

According to Ardakanian, the ministry has it on the agenda to bring 2.86 million hectares of land in the downstream of the country’s dams under irrigation systems.

“The number has now reached 2.4 million, and it is hoped that by the Iranian calendar year of 1406 (begins on March 2027) all the mentioned networks would be implemented,” he said.

EF/MA