Mohamamdali Tahmasbi told Mehr News correspondent in Damghan that in the five-month period from March 21 to July 20, exports of pistachio had indicated a decline compared to that in 2011; “in 2011, pistachio exports had been 137,000 metric tons, but improved in terms of tonnage to 183,000 tons in 2014, with subsequent decline in 2015 hitting low tonnage of 130,000 tons,” he added. “Early-splitting pistachio nuts should be eliminated from the production process for their lower quality, with semi-automated production giving way to fully automated machinery. The Ministry of Agriculture has so far had stop working of more than 200,000 semi-automatic machines.”
Tahmasbi also added that with so valuable a product as pistachio, high-risk pesticides should be eliminated from the process as well; “along with improving the brand names of domestic producers, the Ministry has waged laudable attempts to rule out the use by farmers of unidentified fertilizers and or those with dubious nature,” he told Mehr News correspondent.
“The US is a serious rival of the Islamic Republic of Iran in pistachio production, with staggering 300,000 tons of annual yield, to which we work to emulate through improvements in technologies and methods of production,” the official said.
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