Iran to export $4.5 billion agricultural goods

Iran plans to export more that 4.5 billion dollars worth of agricultural products by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20), says an Iranian official. Iran exported 3.8 billion dollars worth of agricultural products in the past Iranian year compared with 3.2 billion dollars the previous year, Majid Khoshnoud, an official with Iran's Agricultural Jihad Ministry said, according to (Fars) news agency. "We forecast that the amount would reach 4.5 billion dollars this year," he added. Last month, Iran's Agricultural Jihad Minister Sadeq Khalilian said that the country's imports of agricultural products dropped by 30 percent in the previous Persian calendar year. "The reduction in imports is a big leap forward for the agricultural output," he noted. The Iranian minister pointed out that agriculture was one of the most important sectors of Iran's economy, adding that the government has taken measures to reduce agricultural imports in recent years. "We have allocated a good budget for the processing industry in the current year to significantly reduce agricultural waste," Khalilian said. In November, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced plans to boost the country's annual production of agricultural goods to over 200 million tons within four years.