NCRI – The Iranian regime’s plans for agricultural self-sufficiency have failed, and the regime is now importing the bulk of its basic foodstuffs, a senior official has acknowledged.
The Iranian regime’s parliament’s Agricultural Commission chief Abbas Rajaei said that in 2012, around 70 per cent of the wheat and 90 per cent of the oil the country needed had been imported.
He told the state-run Sharq newspaper on Monday, July 15: “When we use outdated methods for 35 years and do not leave the work to the experts, it is very natural that these problems will be created.
“The government was not after serious change in the field of agriculture. One of my complaints from the agricultural ministers of this government was that they did not bring any bills to parliament regarding agricultural issues.”
“When it is said that for example worth 12 billion dollars worth of basic products have been imported in one year, it means the country’s agriculture has weakened by several times that amount, and problems in work force are created by the same ratio.”
Rajaei, also head of the Food Industrial group in the Iranian regime’s parliament, added: “As we couldn’t buy wheat from farmers and store it, we imported 70 per cent of the country’s wheat last year.
“90 per cent of the country’s oil has been imported. More than one million tons of sugar has been imported. We have also imported around 1.5 million tons of rice. These are not just small numbers.
“If we had at least spent half of the amount received with caution and spent carefully on imports and on internal agriculture, we would definitely be in a different situation.
“When almost 70 per cent of the grain needed for the production of poultry, such as corn and soya, etc., is imported, then one cannot say we are self-sufficient in chicken production and that we are self-sufficient in the production of white meat. Because if the import of this grains was stopped by the sanctions, then production of chicken would be impossible.”
