Considering an anticipated rise in domestic rice production and last year reserves, Iran will need no more rice imports in the current calendar year to March 2025, according to a senior official with the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (MAJ).
Sohrab Sohrabi said on Monday that as much as 2.7 million tons of rice is expected to be harvested by Iranian farmers in this crop year.
Some 491,000 tons of rice has been imported into the country since the beginning of the current calendar year (March 21, 2024) and at least 100,000 tons of the crop produced domestically last year remain in the warehouses, the official said, noting that there will be no more need for rice imports in the rest of the year.
He said that with an average 35 kg per capita rice consumption, Iran’s 86 million population will consume some 3 million tons of rice annually.
Sohrabi added that heavy rainfall in spring, timely supply of pesticides and adoption of modern methods of cultivations led to a rise in the average yield per unit of area.
The official said that in Iran’s seventh five-year development plan has targeted a 90% self-sufficiency in rice cultivation.