TEHRAN- As announced by the head of Iran’s Agricultural Mechanization Development Center, 60 trillion rials (about $230.7 million) has been invested in the agricultural mechanization sector of the country in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20, 2021).

Kambiz Abbasi said that 80 percent of the funds of the agricultural mechanization sector were given to farmers from cheap banking facilities to buy the tools, machinery and equipment they need.

According to the official, this is the largest volume of investment in this sector in recent decades.

He continued by pointing to the farmers' welcome for increasing the mechanization coefficient, which is the basis of commercial agricultural development, and said the demand of farmers for purchasing and supplying agricultural equipment and machinery is increasing.

The official had earlier noted that the Agricultural Mechanization Development Center plans to increase the country’s agricultural mechanization coefficient to 2.3 horsepower per hectare in the current year.

Iran’s agricultural mechanization coefficient has currently reached 1.65 horsepower per hectare.

According to Abbasi, the Agriculture Ministry has been allocating a separate credit line for the mechanization of the agriculture sector every year, so that since the Iranian calendar year of 1392 so far, nine credit lines have been opened for this sector.

Statistics show that there is an annual demand for 25 trillion rials (about $96 million) of facilities for the development and modernization of agricultural machinery.

Since over 95 percent of the technology and knowledge in this area is domestic, despite the U.S. sanctions most of the goals in the mechanization of various agriculture sectors will be achieved without any problems, according to Abbasi.

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.

Implementing billions of dollars worth of development, research, and educational projects across the country is an indication of the significant improvements in this sector.

MA/MA