Iran: agroindustry is being reorganized

In mid-January, Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture Jihad unveiled a mega education project to facilitate link between rural economy and market of agricultural products. On January 18, Iranian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hossein Shirzad unveiled the mega project titled "Agricultural Commerce and Business Education System" (NABKA).
 
"By applying NABKA, we are approaching the challenges of agricultural market with a new perspective," said Shirzad, who is also the chairman of the Board of the Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran (CORC). “Therefore, NABKA could be defined as a transition phase of education from instinctive education to the systematic teaching system which not only promotes the commerce skill of the target groups but also their market and knowledge”, Shirzad went on to say.

Noting that NABKA will link the national market of the agricultural market to the international one, the official said that the agricultural market suffers from two shortages in institutional and data exchange. Consequently, the production data have never been coordinated with the data of the international market.

He noted that "this problem impedes the access to the emerging markets; therefore we always have been forced to sell the raw material rather than processed ones." Shirzad, also asserted on the development of a fair pricing system, that fortunately has been accessed through applying the stock exchange market mechanism especially for saffron and tomato paste.

“Standard storage, transportation, and processing systems, contract farming, and efficient insurance system and branding are the primary needs to access the international markets that could be met by the national agricultural unions,” he added. Confirming that the rural and agricultural cooperatives have the infrastructural facilities to meet the abovementioned needs, the deputy minister said the CORC experience on transaction of agricultural products and tomato paste in the "Iran Mercantile Exchange" (IME), is a proof to the capacity.

Iran: Government supports tomato growers
Dr. Hossein Shirzad explained that, as part of its interventions, CORC has provided market services during the last season, including purchasing the production surplus as part of the plan to support tomato farmers. He announced that in the last crop year (March to September) a total volume of 325 000 metric tonnes of tomato has been purchased by the CORC.

He said over 235 000 metric tonnes of the said volume have been purchased based on the supportive price and the remaining has been bought based on the agreed prices. Highlighting his agency’s support for farmers, Shirzad underlined that the volume of the purchased tomato by the CORC was unprecedented in the last 60 years.
 
As regards the reason behind the policy, Shirzad noted that last year the tomato price has been drastically rebounded due to decreasing potato farms, and the issue misled many farmers to enlarge the tomato farms this year. The official said that the trend led to a surplus in production of the product in the 2019 crop year.
“By providing market services, including purchasing and delivering surplus crops into the processing factories, the CORC has managed to support farmers against price fluctuations”.

Iran to launch chamber of agricultural guilds
More recently, the Central Organization of Rural Cooperatives (CORC) announced it plans to establish the country’s first chamber of the agricultural guilds within the next few months.
Shirzad said development of the chambers of the agricultural guilds will facilitate not only the legal affairs for the farmers but also boost the production, as well.
 
"Boosting the CORC’s capital, marketing the agricultural crops in the Iran mercantile Exchange (IME) for the first time including Estameran date palm, tomato paste, milk powder and saffron, as well as the deflation control of tomato during the overproduction period, are of the most economic achievements of CORC in the agro- marketing field," Shirzad added.

Noting that the majority of the tomato has been processed, packed in bulk and sold through the IME, Shirzad went on saying that the remaining aseptic packs of tomato paste will be sold in from 20 Feb to 19 March, with a more confident marginal profit.

Source: tasnimnews.com