Iran exported 74 tons of saffron worth $78 million during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Aug. 22), the executive manager of Agriculture Ministry's National Medicinal Plants Project said.
“More than 40 countries were customers of Iranian saffron during the period. Spain, Vietnam, Qatar and the UAE were the biggest exporters,” Hossein Zeinali was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Saffron exports hit 280 tons worth $351 million in the last fiscal year (March 2018-19).
A total of 404 tons of the precious spice was produced from 113,000 hectares in Iran last year.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 hectares are added annually for saffron cultivation while production sees a rise of 20-30 tons annually.
Production is expected to reach 424 to 434 tons by the fiscal yearend (March 2020).
Zeinali noted that about 50% of saffron cultivation process are now mechanized, estimating that the whole process will be mechanized in two years.
Iran is the world’s biggest producer of saffron and accounts for more than 90% of global production.
Saffron is cultivated across 22 Iranian provinces. More than two-thirds of Iran's saffron are grown in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province.
The saffron industry in Iran, the official said, has created 120,000 jobs across the pre-harvest, harvest, post-harvest, processing, sorting and packaging chain.
“This is a small number compared with our competitive advantage in the field and our leading position in global saffron production,” he added.
Per capita consumption of saffron in Iran stands at 1 gram. Annually, 80 tons of saffron are consumed domestically.
GIAHS Designation
The Qanat-based saffron farming system in Iran's northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province’s Gonabad County has been designated a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
The designation came at a meeting in Rome of the GIAHS Scientific Advisory Group affiliated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on Dec. 21, 2018.
“This cultivation system is unique in that the farms are irrigated via qanat systems that were constructed in the region hundreds of years ago. As saffron is a drought-tolerant plant and Gonabad is located in an arid and semi-arid region, the qanat-based saffron farming system, a legacy handed down to farmers of the region by their ancestors, provides the means for efficient water management,” Ali Kianirad had told Financial Tribune in an earlier interview.
Kianirad is an official with Agricultural Planning, Economic and Rural Development Research Institute, affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry.
Qanat is a gently sloping underground channel to transport water from an aquifer or water well to surface for irrigation and drinking. This is an old system of water supply from a deep well with a series of vertical access shafts.
