FNA - Iranian agricultural officials said that a bigger volume of wheat is expected to be harvested this year due to increase in rainfall in the 2019 water year, reassuring that the country will still stay self-sufficient for wheat.

Iran has envisaged producing at least 13.5 tons of wheat during the current crop year, which started in late September, said Esmaeil Esfandiaripour, the official in charge of the "Wheat Project" � the government policy to purchase the crop from farmers at a guaranteed price.

He added that Iranian farmers have cultivated wheat in 2 million hectares of irrigated and 3.85 million hectares of rain-fed land, and are expecting to harvest some 13.5 million tons of the product during this crop year.

Crop year for wheat in Iran starts on Sep. 23, concurrent with water year.

Should the plan come into fruition, the country will remain self-sufficient in meeting domestic demand just like the past couple of years, he added.

The official put the country�s annual wheat demand in different industrial sectors at 13.2-13.5 million tons.

Pointing to the �promising precipitation rate� during the past months, Esfandiaripour said, plans are high on the agenda to increase the country�s wheat production and boost the productivity in farms.

Data from Iran Water Resources Management Company, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, shows that since the beginning of the current water year (Sep. 23), the country has received 97.5 millimeters of precipitation. The figure indicates a significant 66.9% hike compared to the same time last year which saw 30.6 millimeters of rain.

In a related front, an official at Ministry of Agriculture announced on Sunday that Iran�s agricultural exports has increased by 15.74% in terms of weight and 18.74% in value, comparing figures in the first 8 months of the last two (Iranian) years, adding that the volume hit 4.575 million tons from 3.95 million tons, and the value reached $4.564 billion from $3.844 billion.