Tehran, Iran, June 14
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
Director general of the Greenhouses, Medicinal Plants and Edible Mushrooms Affairs Office with the Agriculture Ministry said Iran’s flower and ornamental plants production has witnessed a steady growth in the past five years.
“Currently, 7,000 hectares of land in open spaces and greenhouses are under cultivation of flowers and decorative plants,” Gholamreza Taqavi said, according to Iran’s Agriculture Ministry.
Some 4 billion cut flowers and potted plants are being produced now, he added.
Stressing that flower harvest is on the rise given the increase in land under cultivation throughout Iran, Taqavi said Iran’s flower and ornamental plants production has increased by 35 percent since five years ago.
This business has created as many as 30,000 jobs throughout the country directly and 90,000 people are working indirectly, he said.
The provinces of Tehran, Markazi, Mazandaran, Khuzestan, Alborz and Isfahan are the top provinces in terms of cultivation of flowers and ornamental plants.
Iran is the world’s 10th biggest producer of flowers and plants, though the country has only a 0.3 percent share in global export markets, making it the 107th flower exporter, the head of Iran’s Flowers and Plants Union said recently.
Mehdi Sharifi believes the country’s meager share in export markets is rooted in poor standards, high production costs and lack of mechanization.
According to the official, Iran’s ornamental flower and plant industry has a turnover of over 110 trillion rials ($2.26 billion) per year.