A total of 8.2 million tons of wheat worth 208.7 trillion rials ($834 million) were bought from local farmers as part of the government’s guaranteed purchase plan during the last Iranian year (March 2020-21), according to the deputy for domestic commercial affairs with the Government Trading Corporation of Iran.
“During the period, GTC purchased 1.48 million tons of wheat from 506,000 farmers across the country’s 31 provinces,” Hassan Hannan was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
GTC announced on March 31 that this year’s guaranteed purchase of wheat began with 10 consignments bought from farmers from Lamerd County in Fars Province and Qalehganj County in Kerman Province.
As of April, purchases of this staple grain started in the southern provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Sistan-Baluchestan.
Estimates made by GTC show that the government will buy more than 9 million tons of wheat from farmers this year.
The ratified price for the guaranteed purchase of wheat has been set at 40,000 rials (around $0.16) for each kilo this year.
Based on figures released by the Agriculture Ministry, the grain has been cultivated on 6.15 million hectares across the country, showing a 2.3% increase compared with last year.
Every year, the government buys strategic crops, including wheat, beetroot, tea, barley, cotton boll and oilseeds, from local farmers at guaranteed prices to control prices in the domestic market and fill its strategic reserves.
Affiliated to the Agriculture Ministry, GTC is the official government body in charge of guaranteed wheat purchases.
Khuzestan, located in the Iranian southwest, is Iran’s biggest producer of wheat.
Plan to Import 2.3m Tons
The government plans to import 2.3 million tons of wheat during the current crop year to replenish its strategic reserves, according to the head of the National Wheat Farmers Foundation.
“Local farmers and our foundation are bitterly opposed to this decision. We believe that if the guaranteed prices are set reasonably and the government devises proper policies for the annual purchase of the grain, domestic production can sufficiently meet the country’s demand,” Ataollah Hashemi was also quoted as saying by Young Journalists Club.
The official added that due to faulty policies and low guaranteed purchase prices set by the government, farmers refrain from selling part of their harvest while high-quality wheat suitable for human consumption is used as livestock and poultry feed because it pays better.
Hashemi said it is estimated that wheat production will exceed 13 million tons in the current crop year, which is enough to meet the domestic annual consumption and to fill the government’s strategic reserves.
Esmaeil Esfandiarpour, the manager of Agriculture Ministry’s “Wheat Project”, recently told ILNA that 4.49 million hectares have gone under wheat cultivation so far this year, more than 1.27 million hectares of which are irrigated land and 3.21 million hectares are rain-fed, registering a 7.4% and 3.7% increase respectively compared with the similar period of last year.
“We estimate a total of 6 million hectares of farms to go under the cultivation of this staple grain this year.”
Esfandiarpour noted that precipitation has been favorable so far this year and ample yields are predicted.
