Agro Damages at $320m Last Year

Pests and diseases as well as natural disasters caused 12 trillion rials ($320 million) in damages to orchards and lost revenues in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017), the deputy head of Agricultural Insurance Fund, Mohammad Ebrahim Hassanzadeh, said. Most of the damages pertained to the early frost that hit citrus orchards in the northern Mazandaran Province in November. About 80,000 hectares of farms were affected by the frost, while only 6,000 to 7,000 hectares or around 8% of these farms were insured. According to Mazandaran Governor Rabi’ Fallah, the extreme cold caused 9.4 trillion rials (over $240 million) in losses to orchards in this province alone. Currently, over 3.8 million hectares of farm and 400,000 hectares of orchards and 80% of poultry are under the coverage of Agricultural Insurance Fund, Mehr News Agency reported.