A total of 308,970 tons of bananas worth $210.32 million were imported during nine months ending Dec. 20 compared with 334,252 tons worth $226.06 million in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), according to Rouhollah Latifi, spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“Despite the ban on order registration for banana imports [since the Iranian month ending May 20], overall imports do not show a significant difference compared with last year. The main exporters of bananas to Iran include Turkey, India, Philippines, Ecuador, Pakistan, the UAE, Russia, and Vietnam,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“The main producers of banana in the world, i.e. Ecuador and Philippines, are not the top exporters of the fruit to Iran. Turkey ranks first among banana exporters to our country. Prices of bananas purchased from the neighboring country are cheaper than those imported from Ecuador.”
Domestic Production
A total of 90,000 tons of bananas were produced in Iran from 4,881 hectares in the last Iranian year (March 2019-20), according to Zahra Jalili-Moqaddam, director general of the Agriculture Ministry’s Tropical and Subtropical Fruits Bureau.
Noting that between 90,000 and 120,000 tons of bananas have been produced in Iran annually in the past few years, the official said bananas are being grown in five provinces of Iran: the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province accounts for 98% of the country’s banana output and the rest are produced in Hormozgan, southern Kerman, Fars and Bushehr.
“Sistan-Baluchestan Province has the largest area under banana cultivation with 4,835 hectares. A total of 22.3 hectares of plantations in southern Kerman, 12 hectares in Fars, 10 hectares in Hormozgan and 2.3 hectares in Bushehr have been dedicated to banana cultivation,” she was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“More than 60,000 tons of bananas have been harvested in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province so far this year (started March 20)”, a local official, Ardeshir Shahraki, said recently.
“There are close to 5,000 hectares of banana plantations in Sistan-Baluchestan, more than 3,000 hectares of which currently bear fruit. The province is Iran’s banana production hub,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The Agriculture Ministry official added that it is estimated that a total of 150,000 tons of bananas will be produced in the province this year.
“Chabahar, Konarak and Sarbaz counties account for the lion’s share of the province’s banana yield,” he said.
Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi, deputy agriculture minister for horticultural affairs, told Mehr News Agency that the government plans to expand Sistan-Baluchestan’s banana plantations by 2,000 hectares in cooperation with the private sector.
“Modern technology will be used in the new plantations to increase yield and quality,” he said.
Besides banana, Sistan-Baluchestan’s tropical climate enables the province to produce mango, papaya, guava and coconut, in addition to watermelon, pomegranate, olive and citrus fruits. Harvest takes place twice a year for most of these fruits.
Jalili-Moqaddam had earlier said an average of 450,000 tons of bananas are imported into Iran every year while domestic production of the fruit is around 120,000 tons per annum.
According to the official, the capacity for domestic banana production and other tropical fruits is higher than the current levels.
“The Agriculture Ministry is prepared to grant incentives, banking facilities and subsidies to encourage farmers in producing these fruits,” she said.
