KABUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan has harvested 4.3 million tons of wheat in the current year, up 13 percent compared to the whole of last year, according to a report of the country's National Statistic and Information Authority on Thursday.

The war-ravaged country has cultivated wheat in 2.2 million hectares of land in the current year, which covers 71 percent of the arable land of the country, the report added, saying that the reason for the increase in wheat product is the diversion of farmers from poppy cultivation to the legal crop.

Afghanistan, according to the report, needs 6.63 million tons of wheat annually, and the harvest of wheat this year indicates a 2.33-million-ton shortfall.

In the meantime, Misbahuddin Mustain, the spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, told local media that Afghanistan is still in need of wheat and has to import the essential grain.

However, Mustain added that the ministry would continue to increase the arable land until the country achieves self-sufficiency in the wheat product.