Since the beginning of the harvest season in late March, about 5.6 million tons of wheat worth some 71,000 billion rials ($2.04 billion at current market exchange rate) have been purchased from local farmers across the country, according to Government Trading Organization of Iran.
“Most of the purchases have been made from the provinces of Khuzestan (1.4 million tons), Golestan (1.2 million tons), Fars (740,000 tons) and Ardebil (350,000 tons),” IRNA quoted GTO’s CEO Ali Qanbari as saying.
It is estimated that more than 13 million tons of wheat will be produced from six million hectares of irrigated and rain-fed lands across the country during the current Iranian year (March 2016-17), 9 to 10 million tons of which will be purchased by GTO.
Last year, nearly 11.5 million tons of the strategic crop was produced in Iran and 8.08 million tons of it were purchased by the government.
