Around 130 hectares of farms will, for the first time, go under the cultivation of cotton seedlings in Iran in the current Iranian year (started March 21).
According to Deputy Agriculture Minister Abbas Keshavarz, some 100 hectares of these farms are located in the northern Golestan Province.
“This method [in which seedlings are planted rather than seeds] helps save water consumption in cotton farms by 40% and reduces the need for seeds to one-sixth. Moreover, plants can be harvested earlier this way,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
According to managing director of Iran Cotton Fund, Mohammad Hossein Kaviani, domestic cotton production stood at about 40,000 tons last year (ended March 20, 2017).
“Domestic textile industries’ demand stands between 90,000 and 100,000 tons per year, and as such, domestic production is not sufficient to meet the need. There is a need to import at least 50,000 tons of the product annually,” he said.
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