Nearly 800 hectares are allocated for organic grapes and date plantations in Khash city in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
This has created jobs for 60 farmers, said Ardeshir Shahraki, head of Agriculture Jihad Ministry of Sistan-Baluchestan.
“After several years of inspection by foreign company watchdogs, for issuing organic-production permits, the province was licensed to grow organic grapes and dates this year” (started March 21), he said, reports IRNA.
Organic grapes from Sistan-Baluchestan are currently selling in the market and organic dates will be on sale from early August.
Given the warm welcome by farmers to organic crop production, 2,000 additional hectares are likely to come under organic farming, mostly for date production.
Shahraki pointed to the high potential of the province in organic farming. Cultivation of organic bananas and pistachios are also on the agenda. The fruit production is currently under the process of licensing.
Sistan-Baluchestan farmers’ harvest 527,000 tons of tropical, subtropical and cold climate fruits, from 80,000 hectares in the province annually, in addition to 2.7 million tons of crops harvested from arable lands, he added.
Organic agriculture produce is free of chemical fertilizers. Plant as well as animal, organic and mineral manure is used to fortify the soil in organic agriculture.
Principles
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the principle aims of organic agriculture and processing include: producing food of high nutritional quality in sufficient quantity; interacting in a constructive and life-enhancing way with natural systems and cycles, encouraging and enhancing biological cycles within the farming system, involving micro-organisms, soil flora and fauna, plants and animals; maintaining and increasing long-term fertility of soils; promoting healthy use and proper care of water, water resources and all life therein; helping conservation of soil and water; and using as far as possible, renewable resources in locally organized agricultural systems.
Additionally, organic farming seeks to: minimize all forms of pollution that may result from agricultural practice; maintain the genetic diversity of the agricultural system and its surroundings, including the protection of plant and wildlife habitats; allow everyone involved in organic production and processing a better quality of life to cover their basic needs and obtain an adequate return and satisfaction from their work, including a safe working environment; consider the wider social and ecological impact of the farming system; produce non-food products out of renewable resources, which are fully biodegradable; and progress towards an entire organic production chain, which is both socially just and ecologically responsible.
