Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 14
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Cultivation of orchids can bring considerable amounts of foreign currency to Iran, Mahmoud Hojjati, Iranian Minister of Agriculture Jihad, said at the groundbreaking ceremony for the first greenhouse of the Nazarabad County of Iran's Alborz Province, Trend reports referring to IRNA.
According to Hojjati, 5 pots of orchids can bring in 1 oil barrel’s worth of foreign currency to the country.
Hojjati added that a pot of orchid is sold in the global market for $8-12.
"Iran can export 90 percent of the orchid it grows," he said.
A greenhouse is being built on 22,000 hectares of land in the Nazarabad County. Today, the first greenhouse has been commissioned on a 5,000-hectare area.
The private sector has invested 150 billion rials (about $3.57 million) for the construction of the first greenhouse. It is possible to grow 300,000 orchid flowers in 20 colors in this greenhouse annually.
Once the local markets will be supplied, the products of this greenhouse will be exported to Russia, potentially bringing in a total of €1.5 billion to Iran per year.