TEHRAN - Director-General of the Agriculture Ministry’s Planning and Budget Office has said the budget allocated for supporting the production of strategic agricultural products in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21) has increased by about 82.3 percent.

According to Hassan Qasemi, based on the current Iranian calendar year’s national budget bill, the Agriculture Ministry has been allocated about 1.772 trillion rials (about $42 million) to promote a program for increasing self-sufficiency in the production of strategic agricultural products, IRNA reported.

The budget allocated for the mentioned program was 972 billion rials (about $23 million) in the previous year, the official said.

Qasemi further noted that the budget allocated for promoting the cultivation of oilseeds has also been increased to 1.8 trillion rials (about $42.8 million) in the current year.

In this year’s bill, the budget for expanding the irrigation and drainage networks of the country’s farmlands has also increased from 2.443 trillion rials (about $58 million) in the previous year to 7.9 trillion rials (about $188 million) in the current year, which shows an increase of 223.4 percent, he said.

Also, to support and promote the cultivation of medicinal plants and rainfed gardens in slopes, 1.665 trillion rials (about $39.6 million) has been allocated, which shows a growth of 150 percent compared to the figure for the previous year.

In the past forty years, since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has witnessed a remarkable improvement in various sectors and the agriculture industry has been one of the areas in which the country has undergone huge development.

The production at the country’s agricultural sector has increased by six-fold during the mentioned period.

According to Agriculture Minister Kazem Khavazi, the agriculture sector currently accounts for nearly eight percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) which is about $40 billion.

Over 18.5 million hectares of land is under cultivation of agricultural products across Iran and the country’s total production of such products is at about 124 million tons.

Production of wheat, as the most strategic crop, reached about 14 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, while the target for the year was 13.4 million tons, according to the Agriculture Minister.

EF/MA