Iran plans to reduce imports of wheat by 20%

Almaty. April 17. Silkroadnews - Iran plans to reduce by 20% the volume of import of wheat this year, informs the Iranian News Agency (IrTAG).
The Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati said that according to forecasts of industry experts, this year in Iran will be produced over 11 million tons of wheat.
According to him, the volume of wheat import will amount to less than 2 million tons, and the volume of purchases of these products from farmers at guaranteed prices by the state is expected to reach 8 million tons, which is about 1 million tons more than last year.
The Minister also pointed to an increase in strategic stocks of grain crop in the country. Thus, according to him, if in 2013-2014. wheat stocks were enough for only 1 month of consumption, at the moment, there should be enough wheat for more than 6 months.
M.Hojjati also reported that the country has implemented a program to reduce the area of ​​agricultural land planted with wheat. Under this program, in 10-year period, wheat fields will be reduced by 900 thousand hectares. And released rainfed lands will be used to increase the production of oilseeds. In particular, at 300-400 thousand hectares of these areas will be planted canola. This is primarily due to the limited water resources.