TEHRAN – Iran’s Deputy Agriculture Minister for Horticulture Affairs says horticultural products account for about 50 percent of the country’s annual agricultural exports and Iran exports about $3.0 billion of such products every year.

According to Mohammad-Mehdi Boroumandi, Iran exports nearly three million tons of horticultural products to more than 100 countries around the world, annually, IRIB reported.

“With about three million hectares of gardens in the country, we produce nearly 26 million tons of horticultural products annually,” Boroumandi said in a specialized meeting on the matter in Tehran on Monday.

He said Iran is self-sufficient in the production of all kinds of fruits, except for four tropical fruits: banana, pineapple, coconut, and mango. Of course, these are produced in the country, but the production does not meet the domestic demand.

“We are among the countries in the world that use the least amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the average consumption of pesticide per hectare in the world is more than 2.5 kilograms or 2.5 liters per hectare, while we use less than one liter,” the official further said.

He further mentioned some of Iran’s capacities in the agricultural sector, especially in horticultural production, saying: “In the north, in Mazandaran province, which is the center of citrus production in the country, we produce three million tons of citrus fruits every year, including oranges and tangerines, and we also produce kiwis in Mazandaran and Gilan provinces, that's why we rank fourth in the world in kiwi production.”

EF/MA