Iranian saffron production has doubled in 10 years

Iranian saffron production has doubled in 10 years

In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in production and area under saffron cultivation,
so that the area under cultivation of this product has increased from 18,000 hectares in 1391 to 51,000 hectares in 2002.
Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi pointed out:
In the last two years, we have had an 11% increase in cultivation and a 25% increase in production.
Deputy Minister of Horticulture Jihad for Agriculture said that the first need of the country in the field of saffron cultivation
is to find the ecological field of saffron and said: We are new to producing and cultivating saffron.
He called for serious attention to the issue of saffron onion smuggling and the establishment of a genetic reserve bank for this plant.
President of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and President of the Third National Conference on Saffron,
referring to the historical background of the saffron plant, said:
Saffron, with a history of two thousand years, is the most valuable medicinal plant in the world.
This plant is mentioned as a spice in the surviving inscriptions from the Achaemenid period.
Bahrami stated:
90% of the country’s saffron production is in Khorasan province and this plant is one of the important income industries of people
in Khorasan province due to low water needs and abundant job creation.
He pointed out:
Despite the potential and actual capabilities of the province in the production of saffron plant due to the fundamental weakness of traditional
and participatory management, the approach of competing countries to the production and processing of this plant,
the existence of reliable reports on smuggling and limited knowledge of this plant. Its properties,
there are still many problems in the field of saffron plant.