BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
About 1.3 trillion rials (about $30.9 million) has been allocated for the repair of canals in the agricultural sector in Iran in the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020), the director general of water and soil department at the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad Reza Sarafrazi said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
According to Sarafrazi, the funds allocated for the repair of canals have increased significantly over the past two years. For example, 170 billion rials (about $4.04 million) were allocated in this area 4 years ago (from March 20, 2016 to March 21, 2017).
Sarafrazi added that 25 percent of canals in the agricultural sector of Iran have been repaired by the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad and 15 percent by farmers over the past few years.
"A minimum of 5 trillion rials (about $119 million) is needed to accelerate the repair of canals in the agricultural sector a year," he said.
The official stressed that there are 41,000 active canals in Iran. About 14 percent of Iran's ordinary agricultural land is supplied through these canals. Thus, 6-8 billion cubic meters of water is taken from the canals a year.
Sarafrazi noted that the most of the canals in Iran's agricultural sector are in Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, Yazd, Markazi, Sistan and Baluchestan provinces.
