Tehran, Iran, Oct. 9
Trend
An Iranian deputy agricultural minister said Iran and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are cooperating to develop marketing strategies and export more saffron to other nations.
Hossein Shirzad, the CEO of the Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives of Iran, said Iran should gain a stronger foothold in the global market and this could be achieved by exporting more saffron.
“Iran’s share in the global market of saffron is not big, and we are cooperating with FAO in the sectors of saffron marketing and value chain,” he said.
We expect that our cooperation with FAO will play a key role in increasing Iran’s global share and exports, Shirzad 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 are 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.