By increasing the average yield of saffron production from 3.5 kg to 9 kg per hectare, it is expected that about 400 tons of red gold will be produced this year.
Hossein Zainli, the manager of the Medicinal Plant Project of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, referring to the forecast of 350 to 400 tons of saffron production this year in the country, said: This year, 127 thousand hectares of land have been dedicated to saffron cultivation. Currently, 23 provinces of the country grow saffron onions and more than 93% of this product is produced in Greater Khorasan.He stated: The leading farmers in Iran produce about 30 kilograms of saffron per hectare.
It is worth mentioning that saffron harvesting in cold provinces such as East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan and Lorestan started in October and continues until the end of December.He called the transfer of knowledge and research achievements to farms as one of the most important measumres in the field of quantitative and qualitative improvement of saffron and said: In the last three years, ideal saffron farms and ideal saffron onion production farms have been designed and launched with the help of the research, promotion and implementation departments. is In these farms, all scientific principles have been followed, while the fertilizer needs of these farms have been provided.Zainli listed the design and construction of a saffron stigma separating device as one of the other measures in the agricultural research department and stated: This device can separate 50 kilograms of flowers from the stigma per hour, which, in addition to speeding up the work, leads to a reduction in production costs. .
He predicted: if an average of 10 saffron stigma removers are brought into the fields every year, we will be able to mechanize this step in the next 10 years.The executive of the Medicinal Plant Project of the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture said: Currently, a saffron stigma separator device has been built by the research department in cooperation with the private sector and implemented and entered the farm.