Using alternative feed inputs declines corn imports by 3m tons

According to Director-General of the Agriculture Ministry’s Grains and Essential Goods Department Faramak Aziz-Karimi, the mentioned plan has been implemented to substitute corn with other alternative crops such as millet, sorghum, triticale, vetch, soybean oil, and its meal, cotton meal, sesame, canola, and sunflower.

As IRNA reported, the mentioned program has been prepared on the recommendation of the Animal Science Research Institute of IRAN (ASRI) and the researchers in this field, Aziz-Karimi said.

He further referred to some of the requirements for the implementation of this plan, including allocation of seed and machinery subsidies, providing foreign currency for the import of alternative seeds, contract cultivation to ensure the sale of products produced by the farmer, providing credit and facilities to the farmers and guaranteed purchase of these products.

Recently, the Agriculture Ministry announced that despite the trade limitations in the country, the required livestock feed inputs are provided to all meat and poultry chains in the country, and there are no restrictions in terms of providing and delivering inputs to the producers.

Iran imported 8.5 million tons of animal feed inputs in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), down 10 percent compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.

According to the Iran Feed and Grain Importers Union (IFGIU), some 9.5 million tons of the mentioned products were imported into the country in the previous year’s same seven months.

The total value of imports of livestock inputs in the said period stood at over $2.377 billion, 18 percent less than the same period last year in which $2.903 billion worth of such products were imported.

During the first seven months of this year, 5,849,809 tons of corn worth $1.412 billion was imported into the country, an increase of 20 percent in terms of weight and 17 percent in terms of value, compared to 4,869,460 million worth $1.206 billion in the same period of last year.

Tehran Times

Tags: alternative feed inputs, corn imports