More than 5.7 million hectares of farmland have gone under wheat cultivation so far this year, which is 5% less than last year’s area, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
Around 1.9 hectares of the fields under cultivation are irrigated and more than 3.8 million hectares are rain-fed, a report by the ministry said.
According to the ministry, precipitations since the beginning of the current crop year in September has reached 98 millimeters, which is 22.2% more than the similar period of last year and 1.3% higher than the average of the last five years, which heralds ample yields.
A total of 8.2 million tons of wheat worth 208.7 trillion rials ($834 million) were bought from local farmers as part of the government’s guaranteed purchase plan during the last Iranian year (March 2020-21).
Every year, the government buys strategic crops, including wheat, beetroot, tea, barley, cotton boll and oilseeds, from local farmers at guaranteed prices to control prices in the domestic market and fill its strategic reserves.