TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, cultivation in greenhouses is being developed in Bushehr province, in the southwest of Iran.

Khosro Omrani, the deputy head of the province’s agriculture department, said, “In order to develop greenhouse farming in Bushehr province, good efforts have been made and in recent years we have witnessed a fivefold increase in the area under greenhouse farming in the province.”

The official also stated that the capacity of cold storages in Bushehr province is increasing by over 130 percent.

Mentioning the 11-percent growth in the agricultural output of the province, Omrani put the annual agricultural production of Bushehr at 1.584 million tons.

While the agriculture sector plays a significant role in the promotion of the Iranian economy, drought in recent years has prevented this sector from being developed as expected.

To tackle this condition, the Agriculture Ministry has taken some measures and defined some programs, such as the improvement of irrigation systems.

One of the major programs that the ministry has defined and is seriously pursuing is the development of greenhouses throughout the country.

As reported, 80 percent of the country’s greenhouse fruits and vegetables are exported.

The significance of boosting agricultural export is obvious when taking the country’s recent approach to boost non-oil exports into account. The development of greenhouses is a very fruitful measure in this due.

Production of products in the greenhouses is today one of the most profitable methods in the agriculture sectors of the countries, in a way that they have defined it as one of their major production strategies because while greenhouses provide stable production of high-quality products, developing them is a proper way for tackling drought and for optimal use of water resources.

In Iran, the need for the development of greenhouses is now highly recognized, as the country is seriously following up on two main objectives of strengthening domestic production to achieve self-reliance, and boosting non-oil exports.

While many supportive measures are being taken to this end, Iran should also benefit from the experiences of those countries that enjoy significant achievements and progresses in the field of greenhouses.

MA/MA