Forecast of 1.2 Million Tons of Tomato Production in Winter

An official said 23,050 hectares have been planned for winter tomato cultivation, with projected output of 1.2 million tons, and 23,280 hectares for spring cultivation, with projected output of 1.1 million tons.

A government official said: 23 thousand 50 hectares are planned for the winter production of tomatoes with a production forecast of 1.2 million tons, and 23 thousand 280 hectares are planned for spring cultivation with a production forecast of 1.1 million tons.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan Mohammad Farid Sepri, the Director General of the Office of Vegetables and Plants in Jalizi said at the meeting of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Affairs of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad: 451,600,000 hybrid seeds are needed for the spring cultivation of tomatoes in the southern provinces of the country.

He added: This amount of hybrid seeds should be provided to farmers by timely supply and distribution from the second half of November to the first half of February.

He said: Considering the time required for seed production and the agricultural calendar of the southern regions of the country, the management of the seed supply and import process should be done in such a way that farmers have access to this input at the right time and the cultivation and production of the crop can be done without delay.

Referring to the notified program of tomato cultivation in the crop year 1405-1404, he said: For the autumn cultivation of this crop, an area equal to 7,955 hectares has been notified with a production forecast of 405,000 tons, and the provincial reports indicate that the cultivation area has been achieved.

Sepri continued: 23 thousand 50 hectares are planned for the winter production of tomatoes with the production of 1 million 206 thousand tons, and 23 thousand 280 hectares are planned for the spring cultivation with the production of 1 million 114 thousand tons.

He added: The major part of spring cultivation is done in the southern provinces of Kerman, Fars, Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Bushehr.

Emphasizing the necessity of utilizing domestic seed production capacity, the Director General of the Vegetables and Plants Affairs Office of Jalizi considered the development of model farms and the implementation of the Collaborative Selection of Varieties (PVS) plan as one of the ways to evaluate the performance of varieties in real field conditions and said: This approach can provide the basis for the development of the use of domestic seeds by increasing the confidence of farmers in domestically produced varieties.

He continued: This office is ready to organize, in cooperation with the target provinces, model farms and collaborative selection plans for varieties to evaluate and introduce domestic varieties of tomato seeds and make the necessary arrangements with the provinces and applicant companies.

Referring to the importance of maintaining competition in the vegetable and summer seed market, Sepri acknowledged: the policy of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad is to support domestic production along with the use of import capacity, in such a way that, while providing access to new and high-yield varieties, the dependence of the country's seed production on imports is also reduced.

He continued: In this direction, the optimal performance and compatibility of cultivars with production conditions and farmers' needs will be the main selection criteria.

According to the news site of the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture, the Director General of the Office of Vegetables and Plants Jalizi also listed banking and foreign exchange restrictions, liquidity supply problems, sanctions on some importing companies, and clearance obstacles as the challenges of seed supply, and emphasized the need for the cooperation of related institutions to remove these obstacles and prevent delays in the supply of strategic production inputs.

At the same time, he mentioned the provision of working capital for importing companies, the follow-up of foreign exchange issues and the acceleration of the seed clearance process as the most important issues raised in the meeting to examine the issues of the supply and procurement of tomato and onion hybrid seeds needed for the crop year 1405-1404.