TEHRAN, Iran, Aug.16
Trend:
An official with Iran's Agriculture Jihad Ministry announced the 8 percent growth of carrot production and a significant rise in Iraq and Russia's competition to import carrots from Iran.
“In the current crop year (2020-2021), a total of 28.8 million tons of vegetables have been produced in the country, which in addition to meeting the needs of domestic industries, has been exported to foreign markets in large volumes,” an official with the Agriculture Ministry Hossein Asghari said, Trend reports citing ILNA.
In 2020, 4.5 million tons of vegetables worth over $1.3 billion were exported abroad.
Asghari mentioned potatoes, tomatoes and onions as the most important vegetables produced in the country both in terms of the size of cultivated lands and in terms of production.
“Of course, products such as watermelon, cucumber and melon have also accounted for a significant level of production and export of the country,” he noted
Regarding the reason for the increase in demand for carrots in the country, Asghari added that recently due to the Covid-19, carrots consumption has increased.
Asghari added that in the last crop year, about 500,000 tons of carrots were produced, which has increased by about 8 percent in the current year.
He added that the area under carrot cultivation in the country is 12,000 hectares. It is predicted that 550,000 tons of carrots will be produced.
Asghari named Khuzestan, Lorestan, Fars, and East Azerbaijan as the main carrot producing provinces in the country.