Financial Tribune - Rice cultivation is only permitted in the two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran and will be gradually banned in other Iranian provinces over the next three years, as per the directive newly approved by the government and communicated to related bodies after it was approved by the Committee for Adaptability to Water Shortage.

�The Agriculture Ministry will introduce alternative crops for cultivation in other provinces instead of rice, the abidance by which will be obligatory,� Deputy Agriculture Minister Ali Morad Akbari has been quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

The official noted that Iran has about 630,000 hectares of paddy fields, 170,000 hectares of which are located in Gilan and Mazandaran.