A total of 4.46 million tons of wheat have been bought by the government from local farmers, which figure is not expected to exceed 4.6 million tons by the end of this year’s crop year in September, secretary of Majlis Agriculture Commission said on Friday.
“Last year and over the same period, the government’s guaranteed purchases reached 7.5 million tons. This year, both production and purchases have declined,” Zabihollah Azami was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official said the government needs to import 6-8 million tons of this staple grain this year to meet domestic demand.
Azami said the country’s strategic reserves are almost fully stocked, yet imports are needed to ensure the fulfilment of future demands.
Aliqoli Imani, the deputy head of National Wheat Farmers Foundation, said earlier this month that wheat production has declined by 30% this year, the main reason being drought and low precipitation levels.
“We estimate that a total of 9 million tons of wheat will be produced across the country by the end of the crop year. This is while last year, yields reached 13 million tons,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Our domestic demand, Imani added, currently stands at 11 million tons per year, about 9 million tons of which go to supply the country’s bread and the remaining 3 million tons are used in the industrial and pastry sectors.
Drought has inflicted losses worth 670 trillion rials ($2.73 billion) on Iran’s agriculture sector since the beginning of the current crop year.
According to Mohammad Mousavi, an official with the Agriculture Ministry, assessments carried out over 11.2 million hectares of farmlands in 30 provinces show 43% of the total losses were due to the decline in production of agronomic crops, 26% decline in horticultural production, 13% decline in fisheries and livestock, and 11% decline in forage crops.
“In addition, 4% of the total damage are to blame on challenges facing water transportation infrastructures, pools, pipes, aqueducts and springs, and 3% of losses can be attributed to water supply complications and animal feed used by nomads,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Iran is an arid country and poor precipitation levels are characteristic of arid regions, which make predictions of domestic demand, import requirements and export capacities a challenge every year.
