TEHRAN – Iran will be self-sufficient in corn production by the end of the fourth development plan, said Kamal Zabihi, the Corn Farming Project manager to the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

The nation’s Corn Farming Project started back in 1993 yielding some 250,000 tons of the product in that year. However, in light of the investments made in the sector it is expected that the country would be fully self-sufficient by the end of the government’s Fourth Five-Year Socioeconomic Development Plan.

As a result of the measures taken toward attaining self-sufficiency in corn, harvest of the commodity from our corn fields is by 45 percent higher than the world’s average rate, noted Zabihi.

Iran’s corn production last year hit 1,930,000 tons while the nation’s annual consumption of the product is said to be around 3,800,000 tons.