Press TV - An official from Iran’s ministry of agriculture says the country has spent over $720 million on machinery and technology over the past six years to modernize farming.

Kambiz Abbasi, who heads mechanization department of the ministry, said on Saturday that output in the farming sector had significantly improved over the past years mainly due to the modernization of the equipment used in the sector.

Abbasi described as “unprecedented” the size of the investment dedicated to mechanized agriculture since 2013, when the current administrative government took office for a first time.

He said a main part of the investment had gone to modern seed drills and harvesting machines, leading to lower wastage in the farms.

The official added that use of agricultural drones, used for spraying pesticides and fertilizers and monitoring the crops, had picked up significantly in farms across Iran.

Abbasi said the accelerated wave of mechanization in Iran’s farming sector had come despite US sanctions that had restricted the country’s access to modern agriculture machinery.

He said banks across Iran had granted over $500 million in loans for purchase of agriculture machinery over the past six years, adding that farmers were becoming increasingly interested in mechanized processes to increase productivity in their farms.

Iran has reported increased output in main fields of agriculture despite sanctions imposed by the United States which some believed could threaten food security in the country.

The government has reported a significant surge in exports of farming products as sanctions that began in November caused the national currency rial to devaluate, helping farmers to find new markets for their products across the borders.