BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 13. Iran has harvested 130,000 tons of olives since the beginning of this Iranian year (March 21, 2023), an official responsible for the 'olive plan' of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Iran, Javad Mirarab Razi said, Trend reports.
The official also mentioned that 80 percent of the country’s olive orchards have been picked so far.
Mirarab Razi added that the total olive harvest is expected to reach 150,000 tons by the end of the year (March 19, 2024), and that the country will produce about 8,000–9,000 tons of olive oil from this crop.
However, he also noted that olive production has declined this year due to climate change, which has affected global olive output as well. He compared this year’s harvest with the previous year’s, which was 220,000 tons.
According to Mirarab Razi, the ministry has a plan to expand the olive cultivation area by 100,000 hectares in the coming years and will provide 25 million rials (about $595) per hectare to support the olive farmers. He said that 125 billion rials (about $2.98 million) have been allocated for this purpose for 5,000 hectares of land this year.
As reported, Iran has 75,000 hectares of olive groves, of which 58,000 hectares are productive and 17,000 hectares are unproductive.
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