Annually, more than 90 million tons of agricultural products are produced in the country. Nearly 95% of domestically grown farm products don’t contain high amounts of pesticide residue. “Only a few products grown in greenhouses such as tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries may exceed the safe levels,” said Reza Ezzatiyan, an official in the Health Ministry.
“According to our assessment, 97.6% of domestically grown rice doesn’t contain detectable amounts of pesticide residue,” he said adding that, as common pest species that infest rice crops are not prevalent in the country, “our farmers usually don’t use chemical pesticides in rice cultivation,” IRNA reported.
