Wheat cultivation in 6 million hectares of land

Wheat
project manager of the ministry of agriculture said: according to the plan
about 6 million hectares of land will be allocated for wheat cultivation.

Esmail
Esfandiaripoor stated that 2 million hectares of irrigated wheat and 4 million
hectares of dry land wheat are cultivated in the country, stating that this
year’s program of cultivation of wheat in the country is about 6 million
hectares and the cultivation period is 100 days from early October until the
first week of January.

He pointed
out that about 99% of cultivation is done in autumn, adding that cultivation
starts in cold climates of the country (western and northwestern provinces)
then in temperate regions and later in Caspian and warm and arid regions.

He
continued: by the beginning of November, about 1 million nine hundred and
twenty thousand of dry land wheat had been cultivated, which means that 48% of
the dry land cultivation plan has materialized, while about 350,000 hectares of
land for irrigated wheat cultivation had been cultivated, and nearly 18% of
irrigated cultivation has been realized.

He pointed
out that in total about 2 million three hundred thousand hectares of wheat have
been cultivated in the country and 38% of the program has been realized.

Esfandiaripoor
said that recent rains have caused favorable cultivation conditions, adding
that the cultivation rate is almost the same as last year.

He added
that agriculture in this country is based on wheat adding that the date of
cultivation is very important and farmers should take this into consideration
as well as the cold climate of the country, which presently this is being well
done.

Wheat
project supervisor, referring to the supply of 470 thousand tons of seeds to
wheat farmers, said: about 67 varieties of irrigated and rain-fed seeds are
produced and provided to farmers by private sector companies under the
supervision of ministry of agriculture.

He said
that the price of seeds has also become more balanced and its uptake has increased.
He predicted that most of the seeds produced would be absorbed by farmers.

The
official said that the area under cultivation is said to have declined compared
to the same period last year, adding: It is too early to judge and we must wait
for the cultivation to end; at present about 38% of cultivation is complete. Of
course there is still time to complete but with this amount of cultivation no
judgment can be made.

He said the
production estimate for the current year is 14.5 million tons whilst it was
about 14 million tons last year.