North Khorasan debuts pilot cotton farm as model farms expand
Iran unveiled its first cotton pilot farming pattern project in North Khorasan Province on Wednesday, aiming to promote scientific cultivation and improve productivity, a deputy agriculture minister said at the launch ceremony.
Speaking at the event in Maneh County, Gholamreza Golmohammadi, who heads the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, said 2,000 model farms have so far been established for six agricultural products across the country to boost efficiency, promote modern methods and raise production.
The ceremony marked the unveiling of the first cotton pattern farm, alongside the launch of 30 similar cotton pilot farms across the northeastern province, according to ISNA.
These model farms have been established with the aim of transferring technical knowledge, expert experience, and introducing modern methods of planting, maintaining, and harvesting cotton, in order to improve yields and enhance production quality on farms across the province and other regions of the country, the report added.
According to ISNA, as many as 7,184 hectares of cotton were cultivated in North Khorasan Province over the past year. Small landholding sizes remain an obstacle to mechanized planting and harvesting of cotton in the province.
To use mechanized agricultural equipment for cotton harvesting, planting must also be carried out mechanically, but most cotton cultivation in the province is still done using traditional methods, it said.
"In the current cropping year, training and extension for farmers has been prioritized, which will lead to increased productivity in the agricultural sector," Golmohammadi said.
The six products covered by the model farm program are wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed, cotton and rice, he said. "A total of 40,000 farmers across the country will be connected to expert and leading farmers so they can share their findings and experiences."
"Leading farmers will be supported so they can implement their achievements on farms with lower average yields as well," Golmohammadi added.
Given water shortages and rising costs, he said, "We must seriously increase production per unit area and productivity."
The deputy minister stressed the need to bring research findings into the field. "Research projects must enter farms. Farmers must seek new findings and up-to-date knowledge, because traditional farming no longer meets needs."
"Given the significant decline in water resources, we must adopt appropriate solutions to increase productivity under water-scarce and drought conditions," he said.