Iran’s agricultural mechanization coefficient will reach 2 horsepower per hectare by the end of the current Iranian year on March 20, 2021, marking a historic record, says the head of Agricultural Mechanization Expansion Center, affiliated to the Agriculture Ministry.
Kambiz Abbasi added that the coefficient in Iran presently stands at 1.8 hp/ha.
“It stood at 1.2 hp/ha when President Hassan Rouhani first took office in August 2013. The coefficient is expected to increase to 2.1 hp/ha by the end of Rouhani’s second term [August 2021], and to 3 hp/ha by the fiscal 2031-32,” he was quoted as saying by Young Journalists Club.
The official noted that over 16 trillion rials ($64 million) worth of investments were made in agricultural mechanization during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Nov. 20), showing more than a threefold rise compared with the similar period of last year.
“More than 14,000 tractors have been supplied to farmers so far this year, showing a 45% rise compared with the similar period of last year. Some 340 combine harvesters have also been manufactured locally and supplied to farmlands across the country,” he said.
A total of 120 trillion rials ($480 million) worth of investments have been made in the mechanization of different fields of agriculture since President Rouhani began his first tenure.
“Using this amount of investments over the seven-year period, more than 130,000 tractors, as well as 7,000 and 3,800 rice and grain combine harvesters respectively, and more than 280,000 equipment were supplied to farmers across the country,” he has been quoted as saying by IRNA.
Abbasi further said about 95% of Iran’s agricultural machinery are produced locally and the rest is imported due to a lack of domestic production of those machinery and spare parts.
