According to a senior agricultural jihad ministry official Iran is no longer reliant on rice import. The import of rice has come to a complete halt since the beginning of the current Iranian year (which started March 21, 2014), the deputy of agriculture jihad minister for parliamentary affairs said in the northern province of Mazandaran on Saturday. “Not even one single kilogram of rice has been imported to the country this year,” Khalil Khodaie said. Rice imports certainly harm farmers across the country and the decision to increase import tariffs by 40 percent is the administration’s first practical step in supporting domestic production, the official added. His comments come as the board secretary of Iran’s Rice Consortium, in an interview with Mehr news agency on Sunday, said one million tons of rice was imported during the first nine months of the current year, citing figures released by the Customs Administration Office.
