Tehran, Iran, Oct. 21
Trend:
Deputy Agricultural Minister Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi said the country’s saffron production is expected to rise during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) compared to the same period last year.
“We predict that the country’s saffron output to rise by 10 percent this year,” Tahmasebi told Young Journalist Club on October 21.
Noting that saffron cultivation needs little water, he added that, “We plan to grow more saffron in areas suffering from the water crisis.”
He said the Iranian government managed to 236 tons of saffron to the world.
“According to customs data, this year’s exports indicate a 30 percent rise compared to last year,” Tahmasebi said.
Iran is the world’s biggest saffron producer and accounts for more than 90 percent of global production. Close to 95 percent of Iranian saffron is grown in the two provinces of South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi in northeastern Iran.
Saffron cultivation and harvest is a painstaking process which requires 200,000 strands of crimson crocus blooms to be gingerly picked in the morning to make one kilo for sale.
