TEHRAN- Iran exported over 46,000 tons of pistachios in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022-January 20, 2023), Arsalan Qasemi, the chairman of Agriculture and Food Industries Committee of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC), announced.

Although Iran is mostly known for its vast hydrocarbon resources, there are some other precious products that people all around the world put the Iranian brand on and appreciate greatly, one such product is Iranian “green gold” or pistachio.

Cultivation of pistachios in Iran dates back to the Achaemenid period or the fifth century B.C; Like the great dynasty, the Islamic Republic was the world’s unrivaled, leading producer of pistachios for a long time, with southeastern Kerman province being the hub of production for so-called green gold.

Over the past decade, climate change has caused severe drought in Iran, leading to 85 percent of the country being classified as arid or semi-arid. The decline in annual average rainfall and shortage of surface water has forced farmers to dig more wells to pump water from underground reserves.

The situation is the same in Kerman province, which accounts for 70 percent of Iran’s pistachio production. As announced by Hossein Rezaei, the secretary-general of the Iran Pistachio Association (IPA), the production of pistachio in Iran fell by 70,000 tons in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20, 2022) to hover at around 150,000 tons.

Hossein Rezaei said that the current year's sprouts have also been destroyed by climate change, and this year it is difficult to keep the market, so government support is required.

MA/MA