TEHRAN- The production of pomegranate in Iran has actually increased 10,000 heaps in the existing Iranian fiscal year (started on March 20), as compared to the previous year, an authorities from Ministry of Agriculture announced.Zahra Jalili-Moghaddam, the director-general of Ministry of Agriculture for tropical and semi-tropical fruits, said that the location of pomegranate orchards in the country is 96,000 hectares, and from this area, about 1,340,000 lots of products were produced this year, which shows an increase of 10,000 lots compared to last year.Irans Deputy Agriculture Minister for Horticulture Affairs states horticultural items account for about 50 percent of the countrys yearly agricultural exports and Iran exports about $3.0 billion of such products every year.According to Mohammad-Mehdi Boroumandi, Iran exports almost three million lots of horticultural products to more than 100 countries worldwide, annually.With about three million hectares of gardens in the country, we produce nearly 26 million lots of horticultural items annually, Boroumandi stated.He stated Iran is self-sufficient in the production of all type of fruits, other than for 4 tropical fruits: banana, pineapple, coconut, and mango.
Obviously, these are produced in the nation, however the production does not satisfy the domestic demand.We are among the nations on the planet that utilize the least quantity of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the average consumption of pesticide per hectare in the world is more than 2.5 kgs or 2.5 liters per hectare, while we use less than one liter, the main further said.He even more pointed out some of Irans capacities in the farming sector, particularly in horticultural production, stating: In the north, in Mazandaran province, which is the center of citrus production in the country, we produce 3 million tons of citrus fruits every year, consisting of oranges and tangerines, and we likewise produce kiwis in Mazandaran and Gilan provinces, thats why we rank fourth in the world in kiwi production.MA