Tehran – Iran has imported 15 rice varieties from China, including four hybrid strains, as part of an ambitious agricultural drive to develop high-performance cultivars and slash the country's dependence on rice imports, a top official at the Ministry of Agriculture has announced.

 

Gholamreza Golmohammadi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and head of the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), revealed that the initiative forms part of a three-pronged strategy aimed at revolutionizing domestic rice production, focusing on yield enhancement, seed quality improvement, and the adoption of advanced hybrid technology.

 

The ultimate goal, he said, is to achieve 90 percent self-sufficiency in rice by the conclusion of Iran's Seventh Five-Year Development Plan, a target that officials believe is well within reach if current trajectories hold.

 

At the forefront of domestic breeding efforts is a newly developed rice strain introduced in the Iranian calendar year 1403 (starting March 2024). According to Golmohammadi, the variety delivers quality on par with the beloved Hashmi cultivar while offering superior resilience to water scarcity—a critical feature in a country increasingly plagued by drought conditions.

 

"The variety is expected to be cultivated across 2,000 hectares this year," he said, "and with adequate seed supply, we project expansion to 5,000 hectares in the following season."

 

In a bold assertion underscoring the competitiveness of domestic research, he declared that Iranian high-yield varieties are unmatched in quality, even when compared with top-tier international products.

 

"The lowest-quality high-yield rice produced in Iran," he stated, "is still superior to the finest foreign variety available on the import market"—a claim that highlights the country's growing confidence in its agricultural science capabilities.

 

One of the most striking inefficiencies in Iran's rice sector, Golmohammadi pointed out, is the minimal use of certified seeds. While certified seeds account for roughly 30 percent of agricultural inputs nationwide, their adoption among rice farmers languishes at a mere 5 to 10 percent.

 

"The math is simple," he explained. "If we can raise that figure to just 20 percent, we could achieve an immediate 10 percent yield increase using existing varieties—without any other changes to cultivation practices."

 

The third and perhaps most transformative pillar of the strategy involves the importation of 15 Chinese rice varieties, including four hybrid lines, facilitated by the Presidential Center for Transformation and Progress Cooperation.

 

"If we can successfully adapt these strains to produce high-yield varieties that also resonate with Iranian palates, we will be in a strong position to meet the 90 percent self-sufficiency mandate set out in the Seventh Development Plan," Golmohammadi said, adding that hybridization represents a quantum leap in breeding capability.