TEHRAN - The director of Iranian Agriculture Ministry’s wheat and rice project has said the country’s farmers have cultivated rice in 650,000 hectares of land in 19 different provinces across the country.

Sohrab Sohrabi said the largest amount of rice cultivation took place in Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces across an area of ​​550,000 hectares, IRNA reported.

Iran plans to produce as much as 2.5 million tons of rice in the current calendar year which began on March 20, according to Sohrabi.

The official said that in order to give a boost to domestic rice growing, Iran has begun supplying seeds and fertilizers among the farmers.

He however noted that due to limited water resources, the country has no plans to increase the area under rice cultivation in non-northern provinces any more.

Masih Keshavarz, the secretary of Iran’s Rice Exporters, Suppliers, and Importers Association, had earlier said that as much as 3.6 million tons of rice is annually consumed in Iran.

He noted that over 2.0 million tons of rice are produced by domestic farmers annually and between 1.2 and 1.5 million tons of the crop need to be imported into the country.

EF/MA