TEHRAN - Tuyserkan, nicknamed Iran’s city of walnut, is playing host to walnut festival as its farmers are celebrating an end of the walnut-picking season.

Located in western Hamedan province, the city is also holding a woodcarving festival where local artisans introduce their products to domestic and foreign visitors, CHTN reported.

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Director Ali-Asghar Mounesan, Hamedan Governor Mohammad-Naser Nikbakht along with several other officials inaugurated the festivals on Monday morning.

Walnut farming has a very old history in Tuyserkan where there is walnut trees as old as 700 years. Tuyserkan walnut has been a brand now and today there are 5,500 hectares of orchard with an annual yield of some 70,000 tons.

Iran’s first walnut research center was launched in Tuyserkan some twenty years ago. The center caters to farmers all over the country.

The abundance of walnut wood in the region has laid the ground for a well-developed woodcarving industry that has gained nationwide reputation.

AFM/MG