Page 52 - IRANRptDec21

9.1.8 Agricultural sector news
Iran’s rice imports up 24% in first eight Persian calendar months
Iran and Philippines discuss enhanced nanotechnology cooperation in agricultural sector
Uzbekistan returns 3,500 tonnes of ‘dangerous potatoes’ to Iran and Pakistan
Iran imported 665,000 tonnes of rice during the first eight months of the current Persian year (March 21-November 21), marking a 24% rise y/y, the Government Trading Corporation (GTC) has announced. Around 445,000 tonnes were imported by the private sector, the GTC said.
In late September, traders urged the government to lift its seasonal ban on rice imports amid shortages that caused domestic rice crop prices to soar.
Head of the Iran Rice Importers Association (IRIA) Abbas Tavakoli said at the time that a tariff system should gradually replace the four-month ban on rice imports that takes in the Iranian rice harvesting that runs from late July to late November, while adding that Iran should import up to 140,000 tonnes of rice per month if it wanted to avoid a deficit that could push prices up.
Iran normally relies on rice imports from India and other countries in Asia to regulate a domestic market dominated by high-quality rice grown in northern Iran.
Iran has worked out several contracts in recent months including a barter contract with Pakistan that swaps gas and gasoline for rice, according to Iranian media reports.
Iran and the Philippines have discussed enhanced cooperation in nanotechnology in the agricultural sector.
The discussions took place during a virtual scientific symposium held on November 18-19. Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) affiliated with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) organised the event.
The event organisers said that Iran ranks as the 4th leading country in the world in nanotechnology, having published 11,546 scientific articles in the field in 2020.
Iran, they added, ranks, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 report, 43rd among the 100 countries with the most vibrant clusters of science and technology worldwide.
Symposium participants aimed to study and exchange information on agricultural nanotechnology, explore the role of the public and private sectors in agricultural nanotechnology fields, assess and expand Iran-Philippines cooperation in agricultural nanotechnology and provide a platform to introduce small and medium sized (SMEs) and knowledge-based companies in the field to potential investors.
Some 29 researchers in the field of agricultural nanotechnology from research centres and universities in Iran and the Philippines presented their latest scientific achievements and findings.
Uzbekistan's Agency for Quarantine and Plant Protection said it returned more than 3,500 tonnes of potatoes to Iran and Pakistan after discovering dangerous pests in shipments, including pale and golden potato nematodes. Cases of infection of Iranian and Pakistani potatoes were systematically recorded from September 25, it added.
"The agency has returned 3,525 tonnes of potatoes in which nematodes were detected, and another 775 tonnes were destroyed in Uzbekistan," the Agency for Quarantine and Plant Protection reported.
“If such cases are repeated, the Uzbek side may ban the import of potatoes from Iran and Pakistan altogether,” it said.
52 IRAN Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com