TEHRAN (ANA)- An Iranian official predicted the harvest of 250,000 tons of rapeseed in the current crop year with an increase of 60,000 to 70,000 tons compared to the previous year.
Sa’dollah Mansouri, the manager of the rapeseed project of the Agricultural Ministry, stated that the rapeseed cultivation area is 160,000 hectars, adding, “We expect the rapeseed harvesting area to be close to 130,000 hectares which shows an increase of 40,000 hectares compared to the previous crop year.”
He explained that out of 160,000 hectares of rapeseed cultivation area, nearly 50,000 to 55,000 hectares are in rainfed lands and the rest are in irrigated lands.
Noting that in the last crop year, the area under rapeseed cultivation in the country was 110,000 hectares, Mansouri pointed out that nearly 140,000 tons of rapeseed were harvested from the area of 88,000 hectares last year.
Reports in January said that experts at an Iranian knowledge-based company had succeeded in producing seeds of a new variety of rapeseed with high yield capacity.
“Our company follows the goal of research on the mother and certified seed of rapeseed of Delgan variety for cultivation in dry, moderate, hot and humid regions in the Northern parts of the country,” said Hossein Akbari Moqaddam, the managing director of the knowledge-based company.
“Delgan rapeseed is one of the open-pollinated variety of oilseeds and its performance competes with imported hybrid varieties,” he added.
Noting that the price of rapeseeds produced by his company is half the price of the seeds imported into the country, Akbari Moqaddam said, "Delgan rapeseed with good agricultural features can play a major role in providing a part of the oil needed in the country which is now being imported.”
Rapeseed, also known as oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains appreciable amounts of erucic acid.
The term canola denotes a group of rapeseed cultivars that were bred to have very low levels of erucic acid and which are especially prized for use as human and animal food. Rapeseed is the third-largest source of vegetable oil and the second-largest source of protein meal in the world.
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Source: ANA