New bylaws have been drafted by the agriculture ministry in a bid to support the private sector’s activities in agribusiness agreements with other countries, MNA reported Monday.
“A comprehensive study has been conducted to support and encourage transnational agribusiness, especially in cooperation with countries like China and the Persian Gulf Arab states. The aim of the new study is to encourage the private sector to enter transnational agribusiness deals for which a new bylaw is has already been prepared,” deputy agriculture minister, Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh, was quoted as saying.
Bakhshandeh said that the new bylaw helps the government take serious steps to provide the business community with legal support that will later be provided by Iranian consulates abroad, and it also helps provide agricultural products with insurance coverage.
He also said that the new bylaw has already been ratified by the ministry of agriculture and it needs to be signed by the government into law.
The bid is part of the government’s broader plans to provide the agriculture sector with the necessary infrastructure to increase productivity that has been affected by recent water shortages.
Pointing to the difficulties faced by the agriculture sector, the head of Iran’s chamber of commerce, mines, industries and agriculture said on Sunday that agriculture sector is faced with numerous problems, and added, “Changes in productivity rate, economic problems due to the sanctions, significant decrease in water resources, reduction in the rate of investment in agricultural projects and a lack of mechanized agriculture have created numerous problems for the agriculture sector.”
Meanwhile, minister of agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati announced on Sunday that the government is about to increase the agriculture sector’s share of the subsidy reform plan to 25,000 trillion rials. He said that 10,000 trillion rials of the revenue generated through the subsidy reform plan has been so far allocated to the agriculture sector, and the government is trying to increase this amount to 25,000 trillion rials in the form of low-interest loans.”
