BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Iran’s North Khorasan province, situated in the north-east of the country, is expecting a 7-percent increase in saffron production during the current harvesting season (October 10 through November 21), an official of the Agriculture Department of North Khorasan Province Safdar Safdari said, Trend reports.
Safdari said that the province is projected to produce 29 tons of saffron this season, compared to 27 tons last season.
He added that saffron was cultivated on 4,600 hectares of land in the province this year, and that the main harvesting period would be from October 23 to November 21, 2023.
The official also stated that the average yield of saffron in the province was 5-6 kilograms per hectare, which was almost double the national target.
According to him, the province planned to expand its saffron cultivation area by 200-300 hectares annually in the coming years.
Out of the 344,000 hectares of agricultural land in Iran’s North Khorasan Province, 297,000 hectares are used for crop production and 47,000 hectares are dedicated to fruit trees. The province grows saffron in eight of its counties.
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