Iran should be the reference price for saffron
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture said: Considering that Iran produces 90% of the world’s saffron, it should be a price reference in this field.
Ali Akbar Mehrfard said at the launching ceremony of saffron transactions in the Commodity Exchange: 336 tons of saffron were produced in Iran last year, of which 236 tons were exported. Saffron is used in Iran as a food and in the world as a medicine.
He added: We produce 90% of the world’s saffron. Saffron is grown in arid areas and grows in the most deprived areas of the country. Smuggling of saffron onions from Iran to Afghanistan and from Afghanistan to other countries is one of the existing problems.
Mehrfard said: Small farmers do not have technology in agriculture and farmers’ organizations should help. Workshops should be set up and technology parts should be transferred there. There should be health workshops both in picking flowers and in the part where they want to separate the saffron. We have 205 workshops and sites and 22 are under construction.
He added: We have two big challenges in saffron production, the first is that farmers are small and do not have liquidity and want to sell the product as soon as it is produced. Of course, this year the Rural Cooperative Organization bought 67 tons of saffron.
The second big challenge is competing abroad; So that everyone brought down the price. In addition, they buy saffron in rials, and as a result, when the dollar rises, they pay the same amount of dollars as they used to pay.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture explained: I will take saffron future transactions as a good omen. One of the characteristics of a price reference country is its production. Is it possible to produce 90% of its products in Iran, but 90 of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran? We should be the price reference of saffron.
Get Social