TEHRAN – Iran’s agricultural production is expected to reach 128 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), according to the Acting Head of Agriculture Ministry’s Economic Affairs Department Shahrokh Shajari.

Speaking in a meeting of Agriculture Ministry’s senior officials with First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Shajari put the country’s agriculture production in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) at 123 million tons, ILNA reported.

He pointed to improving the trade balance of agriculture and food sectors, preserving the country’s basic resources, improving food security by relying on domestic production, and improving productivity as some of the most important strategies of the Agriculture Ministry for the current Iranian calendar year.

Referring to the development of value chains in the agricultural sector, Shajari said: "Development of new irrigation systems and greenhouses to improve water productivity, development of aquaculture, especially shrimp and fish farming at sea, and development of medicinal plants cultivation are among the plans underway in this regard."

According to the official, production of grains reached 83.5 million tons in the previous year and the figure is expected to reach 86 million tons in the current year.

As for the horticulture sector, the production of this sector reached 23 million tons in the past year and the output is expected to increase by 1.7 million tons in the current year.

Noting that one of the major indicators of the development of the agricultural sector is the value-added, the official said in most years, the growth of value-added in the agricultural sector has been more than the growth of the country's non-oil Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

“The value-added growth of the agricultural sector last year was 8.8 percent, despite the negative growth of the domestic value-added,” he said.

EF/MA