Tehran– Deputy Agricultural Jihad Minister said on the basis of an agreement reached with the Management and Planning Organization it is predicted that the average growth rate of the agriculture sector in the 6thDevelopment Plan will reach 5%.

IFIF Public Relations- Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh, speaking at a domestic workshop on the sidelines of a conference on elucidation of the 6th Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan, said agriculture growth rate was 4% annually in the 3rdPlan while it dropped to 1.9% in the 4th Plan under the previous government.

He said with the efforts of the 11th government it is expected that the figure will rise up to 4% by the end of the 5th Plan and 5% in the 6th Plan, 46% of which will be obtained through productivity.

The official further remarked that financial resources of the Agriculture Bank are expected to increase to 41 thousand billion rials, two to three times more than the current amount, which will render a great help to the agriculture sector.

He said according to the latest statistics of the Central Bank of Iran, the total value of agricultural products has been estimated at 1.890 trillion rials, equal to $68 billion./s