Only around 150,000 tons of the annual domestic demand for refined edible oil are produced locally, while more than 1.5 million tons are supplied via imports, according to the Government Trade Corporation.
Over 183,000 hectares go under colza cultivation every year, from which close to 295,000 tons of the oilseed are harvested, Mehr News Agency reported.
Golestan, in the north of the country with 51,000 hectares under cultivation and an annual yield of around 80,000 tons, tops the list of provinces where colza is produced, followed by Khuzestan Province in the south with 45,500 hectares producing around 76,000 tons of the oilseed.
Other main oilseed producers in Iran are the provinces of Fars, North Khorasan, Ardabil, Mazandaran, Sistan-Baluchestan, Kerman, West Azarbaijan, Semnan and Isfahan.
Per capita vegetable oil consumption in Iran is about 18-19 kilograms a year while the global average is 12 kilograms.
Iran’s Agriculture Ministry set a roadmap in late 2015 to achieve 70% self-sufficiency in the production of oilseeds over a 10-year period to keep the costly imports of oilseeds and vegetable oil in check. At the time, domestic production met 6% of the annual demand.
Last year, i.e., around six years after the plan was first implemented, the figure reached 16%.
The 10-year plan has also stipulated that land under oilseed cultivation should reach 700,000 hectares by the end of the plan (fiscal 2025-26). This is while at present, according to GTC, the figure is a bit shy of 300,000 hectares, meaning the government has less than three years to convince farmers to cultivate oilseeds on 400,000 hectares.
Experts believe the increase in production costs, decline in precipitation levels, low purchase prices set by the government and the rise in global prices are among the main reasons the government plan has failed.
“Compared with other crops, oilseed guaranteed prices [set by the government] have always been low. This is the main reason farmers have shown little interest in cultivating such crops. This year, the parliament ratified the formation of a Pricing Committee to take over the responsibility of setting prices for different types of oilseeds instead of the government. The committee comprises state and private sector officials and has agreed on higher prices for the next crop year,” said Qasem Pishehvar, the head of Agriculture and Natural Resources Guild Organization.
