Tehran, Iran, June 13
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
An official with Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture said Iran’s date output accounts for about 15 percent of the world's total production.
“Currently, 20 percent of the world’s date trade belongs to Iran,” Masoud Latifian said on June 13, Tasnim news agency reported. "Iran accounts for 15 percent of the world's total production of dates."
Plans are underway to put 5,000 hectares under date cultivation based on the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21), the official further said.
Iran is among the top three date producing countries worldwide. Different varieties of dates are grown in Khuzestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Fars, Kerman and Sistan-Balouchestan provinces.
Latifian said 250,000 hectares of areas across the country are under date cultivation, adding that Iran’s total production of date has witnessed a five-fold increase in the past years.
This would help increase the country's share in the global date production, he said.
Kerman in southeastern Iran is the country’s biggest date producing province.