Agritech Atop Academia Agenda

The Academic Center for Education Culture and Research has designed 14 tech projects for the current Iranian year (started March 21) to promote modern agriculture and livestock breeding.
Darab Yazdani, the head of Agriculture and Natural Resources Office at the center, said preliminary studies of these projects have been conducted, which will be launched based on their priorities by state and private sponsors, IRIB reported.
He added that the center has several projects on its agenda, including the production of frozen embryos for beef and dairy cows, genetic modification of domestic poultry to increase egg-laying chickens, and development of technology for producing five million barramundi fingerlings (a type of fish also called Asian sea bass), four types of hybrid vegetable seeds and several ecofriendly pesticides and medicines for domestic animals.
“These projects are aimed at promoting productivity and efficiency of agriculture and livestock breeding, along with curbing environmental contamination and injecting modern technologies into the industry,” he said.
“The current year’s plans are mostly related to the projects underway.”
According to the official, tough US sanctions on the one hand and the outbreak of novel coronavirus in Iran on the other hampered researches and projects last year.