Amol – Iran has launched a major program to establish 500 demonstration rice farms in the northern provinces of Mazandaran and Gilan, aiming to increase productivity, improve knowledge transfer to smallholder farmers, and raise the country's rice self-sufficiency to 90 percent, a senior agriculture official said.

 

Speaking during a visit to rice research fields at the Rice Research Institute in Amol, Gholamreza Golmohammadi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and President of the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), said the first demonstration farms have already begun operating in Mazandaran.

 

The initiative is designed to bridge the productivity gap between leading producers and smallholder farmers by showcasing improved cultivation practices and modern production technologies under real farming conditions.

 

Golmohammadi said the program envisions at least 500 demonstration farms, each working with around 20 smallholder farmers during its first year, extending improved farming practices to nearly 10,000 growers.

 

"If we can close the productivity gap through these demonstration farms, Iran's rice self-sufficiency could reach 90 percent," he said.

 

He added that expanding high-yielding rice varieties—whose quality, he said, surpasses many imported varieties—together with effective government support through guaranteed procurement, could enable Iran to achieve full self-sufficiency in rice production.