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The Director General, CIRDAP and chairman and CEO of SFIDA on a meeting held online, signed an MOU to share their experiences and knowledge to help the improvement of agriculture sector in Iran and other member countries of CIRDAP.

Dr. Cherdsak Virapat, Director General of CIRDAP emphasized that SFIDA’s experiences in financial support and developing funds in agricultural sector is a good example for other CIRDAP Member Countries to improve their economic development of the rural areas.

Hossein Mahdidoust, Chairman and CEO, SFIDA, congratulated the occasion of the 44^th anniversary of CIRDAP, then added: “SFIDA is happy to share its experiences to CIRDAP Member countries under this MoU and I will also be happy if CIRDAP could arrange a field visit for the member countries or its professional to visit Iran and our activities”.

The objective of the MOU is “Collaboration for sharing the good experiences with/from CIRDAP Member Countries”.

The Parties in order to fulfill the objective of this MOU agree to cooperate mutually and carry out the joint relevant programmes to address the rural development specially sharing the good practices among the CMCs, organizing the field visits, conducting training programmes, participating in relevant events of each other in the case of fund availability.

Some high official of CIRDAP and board members of SFIDA also attended in online signing.

Mohammad Ali Nikbakht emerged victoriously on Tuesday, 20 June 2023 as the new Minister of Agriculture for Iran. After a severe debate on qualifications of Nikbakht, he could manage to secure his position with 198 votes, out of 248 voters, in his favor, gesturing a fresh period in the Ministry of Agriculture- Jahad under the Raisi government.

His appointment as new minster was followed an intense debate in Parliament over his credentials, illustrating the critical nature of the role and the high expectations for his tenure, at least next two coming years.

As an important pillar of the Iranian economy, the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture-Jahad is of paramount position, hence the careful deliberation.

Nikbakht’s his selection was not undisputed, as endorsed by the 198 votes in his favor, juxtaposed with 40 against and 10 abstentions.

Mohammad Ali Nikbakht, a seasoned politician with a noteworthy track record, is now entrusted with a mandate to drive the agricultural sector’s strategic growth. The agricultural sector, with its prominent role in food security, economic development, and rural employment, is expecting Nikbakht to push it to new heights under his direction.

SFIDA welcomes him and is ready for full support his missions and plans.

The public relations and international affairs Division, SFIDA and the Dairy Products Development Support Fund had a meeting with the Turkish company, Muse Food Technology on Sunday 21 May 1402 to tighten the collaboration for food industries. The meeting was participated by Murat Durmaz CEO of the Turkish, Rezapour the company’s agent in Iran,  Amir Azemoon CEO of the Dairy Products Development Support Fund, M. Karimi advisor and Hossein Shahbaz in charge of public relations and international affairs of the SFIDA.

First, Hossein Shahbaz, in charge of public relations and international affairs presented on SFIDA and support funds for the agricultural sector, then the CEO of the Turkish company, Murat Durmaz, explained about the productions and capacities of Muse Food Technology company manufacturing the machinery for liquid food processing. Their products are specified liquid form of food, such as milk and its products, juices, etc., as well as purees, including tomato paste, etc. This company owns the ability to produce machinery from the beginning of the liquid food plants, i.e. receiving raw materials, material transfer lines, and the processing to the end, which is packaging. CEO of the Turkish company mentioned that he would also help the SFIDA for the agricultural sector from other Turkish companies and other countries in the procurement of other industrial machinery.

For more details on Muse Food Technology Company, brows the official website of the company in the following link:

https://musefoodtech.com.tr/en/

Hossein Shahbaz, in charge of public relations and international affairs, welcome the proposal by CEO of the Turkish company, Murat Durmaz, for further collaboration on food and packing industries.

In a joint meeting between SFIDA, Provincial governor office and the provincial funds of the third region of Iran in Tabriz hosted by provincial organization of the ministry of Agriculture- Jahad, the Apple Supply Chain (ASC) in East Azerbaijan was formally inaugurated. The purpose of implementing ASC was expressed by the CEO of East Azerbaijan Fund as a plan to managing the apple production chain from Farm to Fork (F2F) including producing, processing, packaging, storage, marketing targeting regional and international markets.

Gardeners and producers can benefit from this chain management because ASC will be effective increasing income, reducing unemployment risk and increasing apple production in the region.

The CEO of S.F.I.D.A, Hossein Mahdidoust announced the support of SFIDA for the establishment of an export terminal for the northwestern provinces of Iran.  The creation of county funds with small capital has practically made it difficult to support the activists in the field of agriculture and there is a need to reform the structure of these county funds. He emphasized: We should not allow the depreciation of the currency to affect the mission of this group in supporting the agricultural sector, and the only way to prevent this issue is to enter into trading activities.

Mahdidoust asked the provincial funds to use at least 30% of their capital for economic and trading activities in the agricultural sector, such as providing agricultural inputs, and to use the rest of the capital to grant facilities to shareholders.

Any country that invests in the field of agricultural products today will surely create a worry-free intellectual platform for sustainable development, the deputy coordinator of economic affairs of East Azerbaijan said.

The activities of institutions such as the Investment Development Support Fund in the agricultural sector, which provides advice, makes policies, and provides financing and support, is the main need of the agricultural sector, Mohammad Kalami added. He continued: Our agricultural sector suffers from both policymaking and marketing, and by moving from traditional subsistence farming and increasing investments in the agricultural sector, these challenges can be overcome through the efforts of the agricultural sector organizations.

Fund for supporting the development of investment in the agricultural sector is a platform for solving the existing challenges of this sector, Akbar Fathi, head of East Azerbaijan Agriculture- Jahad Organization, said. Fathi pointed to the activities of the SFIDA in the field of providing money to the organizations of the agricultural sector and supporting the investment of the agricultural sector and added: these activities have made the fund to support the development of the agricultural sector to create good among the activists of the agricultural sector.

There are many challenges in the agricultural sector and solutions should be considered to overcome these challenges, low investment in the agricultural sector compared to other economic sectors, including industry and services, is one of the main challenges, he stated. The main sector for employment and food security is agriculture but only 5% of investment is made in this sector.

The second specialized webinar titled “Provision of Microfinance and Social Business of Grameen Bank” was held by SFIDA on Monday, November 28, 2022 with the presence of representatives of the government in the agricultural support funds for rural and nomadic women, natural resources funds, regional and county funds, as well as the CEO’s of these funds.

The speaker of this webinar was Gholam Morshed Mohammed, deputy general manager of Grameen Bank. He is currently in charge of the international cooperation Division.

While introducing Grameen Bank to the audience, the chairman of the board and the CEO of SFIDA announced their readiness for bilateral cooperation with this bank. For more detail, Please access the webinar presentation file in the link below.

https://sfida.ir/fa/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Iran-Presentation.ppt-Nov.pptx

According to the public relations and international affairs of SFIDA; Hossein Mahdi Doust was appointed as the new chairman of the board of directors and the CEO of SFIDA on 10/15/2022 by the order of the Minister of Jihad and Agriculture.

The induction ceremony of Hossein Mehdi Doost as the new chairman of the board of directors and the CEO of SFIDA was conducted before Ali Hayek, Advisor to the Minister and Director General of the Ministry, Hooshang Mohammadi, Deputy Minister, Development of Management and Resources, Janali Behzadnesb, former Chairman and CEO of SFIDA, members of the Board, directors and consultants of the SFIDA on 10/15/2022 at the SFIDA headquarter.

A webinar entitled “Grameen Bank Service Model” by the SFIDA with the presence of the CEOs of the provincial and specialized agricultural sector support companies and also the representatives of the government in these funds and other specialized units including Women’s affairs office, rural cooperative, research institute, etc. were held on Monday, October 10, 2022.

The speaker of the webinar was Golam Morshed Mohammed, deputy general manager of Grameen Bank. He is currently in charge of the international cooperation Division.
While emphasizing that Grameen Bank is a specialized bank providing services to the poor community and is not an NGO in any way, he explained that the bank was founded based on a field study in a village called Jobra, and in 1983, its headquarters was inaugurated in Tangail, 100 KM out of the capital city, Dhaka.

For more detail, Please access the webinar presentation file in the link below.

https://en.sfida.ir/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Iran-Presentation.pdf

According to the report of public relations and international affairs of SFIDA, webinar was held on June 27, 2022 before managers of SFIDA, managing directors of support the development of the agricultural sector at the provincial and specialized-product (national) levels, Planning Research Institute, Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.

In these presentations, along with how to provide financial resources for agricultural and rural activities and the government’s support for rural and agricultural activities, introducing the “National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) of India” which is the most important bank regarding the agricultural and rural development of India was discussed.

It is an excellent regulatory for general regulation and monitoring of the functioning of regional rural banks and cooperative banks in India.

Below is the presentation file of Mr. D. V. Deshpande:

https://en.sfida.ir/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/nabard-role-in-youth-dev-Iran-dignitaries.pptx

To address the message of Supreme leader, Ayat-ul allah Kahmenei’s for the new year, SFIDA welcomes the new ideas on agriculture development.
The CEO and chair of SFIDA highlighted that SFIDA is planning and taking the necessary measures to use the capacity of the company’s memorandum of cooperation signed with the Vice President for Science and Technology in the field of knowledge-based companies in order to support agri-businesses, especially knowledge-based activities. He called for ideas on knowledge-based targeting support for contract farming, support for the completion of value and production chains in the agriculture sector, and the strengthening and expansion of investment, especially in the agro-based industries. For more details please brows the following link
https://sfida.ir
or communicate with
info@sfida.ir

On the occasion on Supreme leader, Ayat-ul allah Kahmenei’s message for the new year, the Ministry of Agriculture-Jahad calls for new ideas  on developing the agriculture and addressing the problems and challenges of this sector. The ministry invites the scientists, experts and professionals especially from the knowledge-based companies to provide their proposals on the new technologies and ideas for this sector. For more details please brows the following link

https://maj.ir/danesh

or communicate with

info@sfida.ir

I am very pleased to say that in 1400, as in previous years, with the valuable efforts of my colleagues at SFIDA the comprehensive development of funds to support the development of the agriculture sector and their services to shareholders was made possible. Certainly, the development of these funds will be a suitable and efficient platform for the development and completion of value chains in the agricultural sector and ensuring food security in the country.

“While appreciating your efforts in year 1400, I pray Almighty Allah for the happiness, health and eternal pride of you and your family.”