TEHRAN- Iran’s annual production of wheat is estimated to grow 1.2 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020), Esmaeil Esfandiari-Pour, the advisor to Agriculture Minister, told IRIB on Sunday.

He said some 14.5 million tons of wheat is predicted to be produced in the country in current year.

Some 2.2 million tons of wheat have been purchased at the guaranteed price from farmers of 18 provinces in current year, 80 percent of the dues has been paid to the farmers and the rest will be gradually paid, Esfandiari-Pour added.

He evaluated the process of wheat production and delivery as desirable in the current year and noted that the country will be self-sufficient in wheat production in the current year like the previous three years.

Last week, Esfandiari-Pour, who is also the head of the government program to buy wheat from farmers, said that better rainfall across Iran will offset the loss of crops from unprecedented flash flooding in some provinces in March, Press TV reported.

According to him, Iran’s use of improved seed technology over the past five years has boosted the country’s self-sufficiency in wheat by more than 30.

Largely self-sufficient in wheat a decade ago, Iran emerged as one of the world’s biggest importers a few years ago but a raft of measures taken by the government is returning the country to where it was.

MA/MA