Wheat Cultivation Set to Begin

The wheat cultivation season will begin in the next two to three days and it is estimated that between 13.4 million and 14 million tons of the staple crop will be produced next year, an advisor to the agriculture minister and executive manager of the National Wheat Project said on Monday. “Close to 5.8 million hectares of farmlands have been earmarked for the cultivation of wheat this year, 2.1 million hectares of which are irrigated and the rest are rain-fed,” Esmaeil Esfandiaripour was also quoted as saying by ISNA. The official noted that at present, there are close to 8 million tons of wheat stored in silos from last year’s harvest. Khuzestan, Golestan, Fars, Kermanshah and Kurdestan are the main wheat producing provinces in Iran. A record high of 14 million tons of wheat were domestically produced last year, leading to self-sufficiency for the first time in Iran’s history.