Iran says tea cultivation area expanded by a half in 8 years

Iran has seen the amount of land dedicated to tea farming expanded by nearly a half in the past eight years, according to an official from the country’s agriculture ministry who says tea production will increase in Iran in the upcoming years with more government support and investment.

President of the Tea Organization of Iran Habib Jahansaz said on Saturday that tea cultivation area in the country had expanded to 22,000 hectares from around 15,000 hectares reported in 2013.

Jahansaz said that the expansion in tea faming had been made possible through providing cheap loans to farmers in the northern province of Gilan where a bulk of Iran’s tea production comes from.

He said special funds were earmarked to revive more tea farms in Gilan during a recent trip by President Ebrahim Raeisi to the province.

Iran agrifood exports at nearly $3.9bn in March-December

Iran’s exports of agrifood amounted to nearly $3.9 billion in the nine months to December 21.

During his visit, Raeisi hailed the special flavor of the tea produced in Gilan and said that his government is intent on providing more investment to support tea farming and processing facilities in the region.

“If someone drinks Gilan tea he’ll never use another tea variety,” said Raeisi in a speech to local officials and entrepreneurs.

Iran produced 31,000 metric tons of tea over the calendar year to March 2021, up 4% against the previous year.

The government spent over $27 million to buy 137,000 tons of tea leaves from farmers in Gilan and elsewhere over the same period.

However, the domestic output is responsible for less than a third of tea demand in Iran as the country continues to rely on shipments from India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere to fill the gap.

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