The outbreak of coronavirus has inflicted 3.84 trillion rials ($19 million) in losses on the southern Province of Bushehr’s agrifood sector.
According to Mehdi Etemadi, a local official, farms and orchards received the most damage of nearly $11.2 million, followed by food industries and livestock with $6.36 million and $1.45 million respectively, IRNA reported.
The official noted that losses were caused by a wide range of reasons, including the closure of agricultural trade centers, cessation of agrifood exports, decline in production centers’ working capital, decrease in job opportunities, postponement of production projects and transportation problems.
The Agriculture Ministry will provide support for enterprises and businesses that have incurred losses, with chicken and egg-laying hen production units, greenhouses involved in vegetable, flower and ornamental plant production and distribution, as well as aquafarms active in ornamental fish production prioritized to receive loans.
A report by the research arm of the Iranian Parliament released in April estimated overall losses to the consumption and export sectors of Iran’s food and agriculture at 39,500 billion rials ($197 million).
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says the coronavirus pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains and posing risks to household food security.
Large-scale lockdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak have hurt the supply of manpower and disrupted supply chains in the agriculture industry.
According to Majlis Research Center, the production and supply chains of farm crops, as well as livestock and horticultural crops in Iran, were less prone to the contagion’s impact, given the time the outbreak began and the ease of movement of agricultural products in the country.
