The Center of National Plan for Medicinal Plants is scheduled to launch a campaign to promote consumption and cultivation of herbal plants in Iran at Tehran’s Milad Tower from February 14 to 16.
Supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, authorities in the field of medicinal plants will address the event, which will also feature exhibitions on its sidelines, the official website of the campaign, Ncmap.ir, announced.
“Iran is home to 2,300 species of medicinal and aromatic plants,” Ali Moradi Behjou, an expert on production and processing of medicinal plants with the Ministry of Agriculture, has told Financial Tribune.
About 180,000 hectares are under the cultivation of medicinal plants in Iran and annual medicinal herb production capacity stands at 200,000 tons.
The medicinal plants market of Iran is worth around $500 million, while the global market is valued at about $120 billion per annum.
Iran exported $440 million worth of medicinal herbs in the last Iranian year (March 2016-17). Iraq, Qatar, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, France and the UAE were the main customers.
“As per the budget bill of the next fiscal year (March 2018-19), the government is to allocate 840 billion rials ($20.07 million) for the development of medicinal plants,” an advisor to Iran’s agriculture minister, Peyman Yousefi-Azar, told IRNA.
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