Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.4 / Trend R.Zamanov /
Iran's lemon and lime output is expected to hit 550,000 tons by the end of the current calendar year (March 21, 2014), Iran's Garden Owners Union Mojtaba Shadlou said on Sunday.
"The figure is 35 per cent more than previous year's total output," the ISNA News Agency quoted Shadlou as saying.
Shadlou went on to note that lemon and lime are expected to be sold at 20,000 to 30,000 rials ($0.6 - 0.93 based on the price of USD at the free market) at the grocery markets.
Iran exported 4.2 billion dollars worth of agricultural products in the previous calendar year, which ended on March 20.
Deputy Iranian Agriculture Jihad Minister Naser Tavakoli said in February that Iran is the world's largest pistachio and saffron exporter.
"The garden products' output of Iran has increased by more than 4.5-fold in the past 34 years," Tavakoli added.
Iran currently produces some 118 million tons of garden products per year, he said, noting that 34 years ago Iran's garden products' output stood at 25 million tons.
It is while the country's population has been doubled in the past 34 years.
Esma'eil Abbaspour, an official with the Agricultural Jihad Ministry said last week that by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran's annual garden product's output should reach 300 million tons.
Iran is the Middle East and North Africa's greatest producer of garden products, and ranks 8th or 9th in the world, an official with the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad said on October 22.
Iran has been ranked between 8th and 10th in global fruit production in different years. In the productions of pomegranates and pistachios Iran ranks first, in dates and cherries, 3rd, 4th in the production of apples and walnuts, and, 7th in producing citrus fruits. 50 kinds of fruits are grown in Iran. The record for pomegranate production is 100 tons in a hectare of land, 146 ton for apples and 70 tons for oranges.