More than 13.4 million tons of wheat was produced in the country since March, up from last year’s 11.5 million tons as harvest season draws to a close, ISNA reported. Khuzestan, Golestan, Fars, Kordestan and Kermanshah provinces are the top producers. “We have reached self-sufficiency this year while the government’s wheat buying program continues. At present, we have a surplus of 2 million tons, which can be exported,” head of the Government Trading Corporation of Iran, Ali Qanbari said earlier this month. Iran was the 11th biggest producer of wheat worldwide in 2015 for the third consecutive year, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In its latest report on Iran’s agricultural sector, Business Monitor International estimates that Iran’s wheat production will reach 16 million tons by 2019-20 and that wheat yields will improve, because of the use of modern technology and larger areas benefiting from new farming and irrigation facilities.
