Based on the MoU which was signed by PBO’s Deputy Head Hamid Pour-Mohammadi and the managing directors of Bank Keshavarzi, Bank Mellat, and the Export Development Bank of Iran, about $238.09 million will be allocated for supporting the development of the saffron industry and its exports, IRNA reported.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Pour-Mohammadi noted that the mentioned funding will be provided to saffron producers and processors in the form of bank facilities to support the production of saffron and the packing and processing of this product, which has been impacted by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

According to the official, the interest rate of the mentioned facilities would be 18 percent, of which PBO has agreed to pay three percent.

According to official figures, Iran exported 12,320 kilograms of saffron valued at $11.2 million to 32 countries during the previous Iranian year (ending March 19), said the president of the University of Torbat-e Heydarieh (northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan Razavi) and its Saffron Research Institute.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Iran Daily in May, Mohammad-Hassan Fat’hi-Nasri added that of this figure, 9,500 kilograms, worth $10.3 million, were exported from the Customs Department of the northeastern city of Mashhad to 25 countries.

He noted that, in other words, during this period, saffron exports from Mashhad’s customs accounted for 77 percent and 92 percent of the country’s total overseas sales of the same product in terms of weight and value, respectively.

The UAE was Iran’s biggest export destination, having imported 4,200 kilograms (34 percent of the total weight of the overseas sales) of saffron, valued at $4.6 million (41 percent of total value), followed by Spain and Afghanistan, Fat’hi-Nasri added.

Hossein Qaribi made the remarks in a meeting with Governor of Mato Grosso Province Mauro Mendes, IRNA reported.

The two officials discussed ways to expand trade and agricultural relations.

Referring to the place and importance of Iran for Mato Grosso Province, Mendes said in the meeting that his province is ready to facilitate activities of Iranian traders and improve the level of collaboration with Iran.

Qaribi also visited some agricultural complexes of the Mato Grosso Province, which is Brazil’s third largest province and is among the most important agricultural poles of the South American country.

Mato Grosso is the biggest producer of soybeans, corn, cotton, beef, and sunflower seeds in Brazil. It produces 35 million tons of soybeans per year, which is 27 percent of the production in Brazil and 10 percent of the production in the world.

Mato Grosso is Iran’s biggest partner in Brazil, and Iran is the province’s second partner, after China.

Announcing the above, Kazem Khavazi, the Iranian minister for agricultural Jihad said, however, that tackling problems requires the use of international and regional scientific capacities.

“I hope this meeting will take the necessary steps in this direction,” he said.

Innovation, solidarity, coherence and strong partnership among and within countries of Asia and the Pacific are required for the region to rebound from the damage caused by COVID-19 and the ongoing effects of chronic undernourishment.

That was a call made by more than 40 member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concluding a four-day regional conference.

About 750 participants, including representatives of the private sector and civil society, pledged to work to transform food systems, making them more sustainable, productive and resilient, and to feed a hungry world in a way that is profitable for farmers yet produces healthy food that is accessible to all.

“To transform food systems for sustainable healthy diets we must have coherence, partnerships and solidarity to reduce the costs of production,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said on the final day of the 35th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, hosted by the Government of Bhutan on Saturday.

“Big data, a digital economy and mobile technology will help producers achieve that,” he said.

Today, mobile technology is leading innovation and a smartphone in the hands of a smallholder farmer is his new farming tool,” the director-general added.

The conference also learned more about the establishment of an FAO Office of Innovation and the creation of an International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture.

The conference heard that agricultural innovation can reduce back-breaking drudgery, and that food chains in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly benefitting from technological innovation such as drones, satellite imagery, big data and block chains.

“Leveraging data, innovation and technology has shown that, here in Asia and the Pacific, we have brilliant minds, scientists and an entrepreneurial spirit that will lead us through the challenges presented by COVID-19 and help us conquer malnutrition and poverty,” said the director-general said.

The conference held a special session dedicated to the application of new technology and innovation in agriculture, which are wooing back young people and empowering women in the sector, according to participants. It was agreed that new and innovative food and agricultural policies, processes, investment and learning could get the region back on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture) by 2030.

The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than half of the world’s undernourished people, and with the impacts of COVID-19 the number of hungry people in South Asia could rise by nearly a third to 330 million in the next ten years.

The participants heard how FAO’s recently launched COVID-19 Response and Recovery Program, would help countries mitigate the immediate impacts of the pandemic while building back better, accelerating global hunger-fighting efforts through a focus on innovation.

The conference was chaired by the Minister for Agriculture and Forests of Bhutan Yeshey Penjor, who called for strengthened collaboration: “While great strides had been made to reduce poverty and hunger by so many countries, COVID-19 has upended the momentum.”

We must prepare for higher risks ahead of us and make sure that there is sustainability in the food supply chain, he said.

The conference also appreciated the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative that aims to enable matchmaking, bringing the right partners together at the right time, to help the region move forward and meet the needs of member countries. The initiative has already seen the launch of state-of-the-art tools such as the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform and the FAO Data Lab for statistical innovation.

“Ironically, the fact that COVID-19 has driven us to meet remotely has, in some ways, helped us to move away from formalities and get closer together,” said Director-General QU, referring to the fact the Regional Conference was held entirely in virtual mode for the first time in FAO’s history. “So while we are separated by some 11 time zones, we have still managed to come together, have thought-provoking discussions and reach consensus on a number of important issues.”

There were a number of other firsts and achievements. The private sector joined for the first time an FAO Asia and the Pacific Regional Conference. Civil society organizations also continued to have an important voice. Prior to the conference, which is part of FAO’s regional governance structure, national consultations were held in member nations across the region – another first.

Source: fao.org.

Iran’s Agriculture Minister Kazem Khavazi said that the total output of agricultural products in the sector had topped 125 million tons at the end of the last Iranian year, Press TV reported.

Khavazi said output would further grow by five million tons by March 2021 and by another two million tons when the current administrative government leaves office in August next year.

The minister, speaking to IRNA, said production of major staples like wheat and rice had significantly increased over the past years, adding that annual wheat output stood at 13.7 million tons in March this year, up 47 percent from late March 2014.

He said Iran’s rice production will reach 2.7 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year, giving Iran a considerable degree of self-sufficiency on the staple.

Khavazi said that the use of irrigation in agriculture has increased to cover nearly 45 percent of farmland across Iran, adding that the number of tractors and combine harvesters in the country has also risen by 112,000 and 10,000, respectively, compared to March 2014.

Better weather conditions and growing government support had led to higher yields in Iran’s strong agriculture sector. That comes as growing exports of agro-foods to neighboring countries have given incentives to Iranian farmers to expand cultivation for various crops.

Experts say booming agricultural exports have helped Iran reduce its reliance on crude oil sales as the government seeks to diversify the economy away from oil to make it more resilient against foreign sanctions.

The 80,000-head capacity feed yard in Fashafoyeh, 40 km south of Tehran, according to Fars News Agency, is dedicated to breeding small rudiments, which means sheep and possibly goats, Press TV wrote.

The first phase of the feedlot was inaugurated on Tuesday during a ceremony which also included the ground-breaking of a dairy factory with a capacity to produce 12,000 tons of butter and 40,000 tons of powdered milk a year.

The Barakat Foundation, a charitable bonyad focusing on economic development projects in rural regions, has set up the farm – one of the 60,000 projects which it plans to carry out this year, with 80 percent of them dedicated to animal husbandry.

“According to the plans we have established for ourselves, we intend to stop the import of $1 billion worth of agricultural and livestock products in three years and currently, we are 25 percent ahead of our plans,” head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) Mohammad Mokhber said.

The Barakat Foundation is a subsidiary of EIKO which has been established with the aim of helping the underprivileged.

Deputy governor of Tehran Heshmatollah Asgari hailed EIKO for getting proactively involved in the food security issue “which concerns all people”.

“The powerful entry of EIKO into the strategic field of agriculture and food security and partnership with the private sector to address shortcomings has been a source of great good for the country and has caused a jump in production and prevented the outflow of foreign exchange,” he said.

Food security is one of the key development priorities of Iran. Since 1979, the country has put self-sufficiency at the heart of its policies, especially in strategic staples such as wheat.

According to the United States Institute of Peace, Iran imported 65 percent of its food in 1979, but it now produces 66 percent of its food basket.

Nevertheless, Iran’s efforts to import some amount of its food especially amid the most draconian US sanctions are fraught with challenges that lead to periodic market volatility, where certain goods suddenly disappear from the inventories.

Food security

Foodstuffs are purportedly not restricted by US sanctions, but banking sanctions and asset freezes are making it all but impossible for trading houses to do business with Iran.

Food prices are a key driver of inflation which has traditionally been high in Iran because of having an oil-based economy.

Iran relies on imports for 90 percent of its requirements for water-intensive products such as wheat and oilseeds – an issue which was brought up during the Tuesday ceremony.

“It is not appropriate for our country to be up to 90 percent dependent on imports in the field of oilseeds and butter,” Mokhber said.

For years, Iran has been exploring overseas resources to ensure stable supplies of agricultural products for a rapidly urbanizing population. According to former agriculture minister Mahmoud Hojjati, contracts for cultivation on nearly 800,000 to one million hectares in a number of countries have been signed and approved by the government.

Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Brazil and Ghana have been cited in the media among the places which Iran was pushing for long-term leasing or ownership of farmlands with higher agribusiness potentials.

Inside Iran, the government has tried actively to support the rural sector and agricultural production. Key aspects of this strategy have been buying selected crops and products at guaranteed prices from producers and initiating rural development in order to benefit villagers and prevent them from migrating to cities.

Agriculture is a major economic sector in Iran, with great potential for development and as such, is seen as a key strategic policy area. It contributes more than 25 percent of GDP and one-third of total employment. It also contributes substantial export earnings, one-third of total non-oil exports.

Leap in livestock production

Livestock is an important national resource in Iran and a key component of the government’s plans to achieve higher levels of food production and more diversified sources of foreign exchange in order to reduce vulnerability to oil price fluctuations.

Livestock also plays a key role in the lives of the rural population, generating employment, and often providing about 80 percent of their income.

Sheep and goats produce about 53 percent of the red meat. Due to geographical topography and mountains and plain area, there are about 28 known sheep and goat breeds, which are reared by the villagers and nomadic tribes.

According to the latest figures cited by Mehr News Agency, Iran’s sheep population totaled 47.3 head in May and its goats numbered 17 million, up 0.1 percent, and 2.9 percent respectively year-on-year.

The total cattle count in February stood at 4.8 million head, up 13.2 percent from the last census carried out in October 2014, the news agency said, citing figures by the Statistical Center of Iran.

“Iran cannot compete closely with the avant-garde countries in certain industrial fields, but it is able to compete in the livestock and agricultural industry,” head of Isfahan Chamber of Commerce Abdolvahab Sahlabadi has said.

The country has already started exporting embryos and calves to the Central Asian countries, as well as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Oman, he told ISNA.

Production of milk, red meat, poultry meat, and eggs has increased in recent years. Officials are promoting modern breeding and crop management methods to make the country self-sufficient in red meat.

According to Hojjati, the application of genetic modification in cattle has produced extraordinarily good breeds in the country, leading to exports of genomic livestock and genetic material to the regional countries.

“Thanks to our exemplary farms and up-to-date agro-industries, we are in a very good position, and many of the country’s production units compete with industrial farms in the United States, Canada, and Europe.”