Hossein Zeinali, the medicinal plants' project manager of Iran's Agriculture Ministry, said some 113,000-115,000 hectares of land have been used for saffron cultivation since March 2019, and the farmers are expected to produce 430 tons of saffron this year.
Saffron is cultivated in 22 Iranian provinces; Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan and South Khorasan provinces, in eastern Iran, account for almost 90% of the country's total saffron output, he added.
According to the official, the saffron industry has created some 200,000 jobs across the pre-harvest, harvest, post-harvest, processing, sorting and packaging chain.
Iran produced 404 tons of saffron during the year to March 20, of which 280 tons were exported.
The priceless plant was sent to more than 40 countries. Spain, Vietnam, Qatar and the UAE were Iran’s biggest saffron importers during the period, he added.
MNA/IRN83519590