TEHRAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian government has allocated some 870 million U.S. dollars in budget to continue mechanization of irrigation systems in agriculture, local media reported Wednesday.
The plan is to carry out the project in over 300,000 hectares of farmland and orchards by the end of the year, said Iran's Deputy Agriculture Minister Ali Morad Akbari, according to Financial Tribune daily report.
Akbari said that modern irrigation systems have been installed across 40,000 hectares of land in Iran so far.
Reports earlier in July also said that Iran has been speeding up agricultural mechanization by allocating more funds.
Old machinery is the main culprit contributing to inefficiency and waste in agriculture, which is said to cost the country over 5 billion dollars annually.
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