TEHRAN- The horticulture director of Lorestan province’s Agriculture Department announced the production of 65,000 tons of pomegranates in the province per annum.

About the pomegranate orchards in Lorestan, Nasser Kiani said currently, the total pomegranate orchards in the province are 3500 hectares, of which 1,200 hectares are in Khorramabad, 1,800 hectares in Kouhdasht, and the rest are in other counties.

The total production of pomegranate in the province is 20,000 tons in Khorramabad, 35,000 tons in Kouhdasht, and the rest in other counties, he added.

The official further said that 30 percent of the pomegranates produced are consumed inside the province and 70 percent in the neighboring provinces.

As predicted by Zahra Jalili-Moqaddam, the director-general of the tropical and semi-tropical fruits office of the Agriculture Ministry, the annual production of pomegranates will reach 1.2 million tons in the country in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20).

She considered the quality and taste of Iranian pomegranates unique in the world and said one of the characteristics of Iranian pomegranates is the health of the product and on the other hand its medicinal properties, which are welcomed by other countries.

The director-general of the tropical and semi-tropical fruits office of the Agriculture Ministry further said that the country's average yield of pomegranate production is 14 to 15 tons per hectare and added that last year the exemplary gardeners saw a yield of 80 to 100 tons per hectare.

MA/MA