An Iranian agriculture minister says the government is planning to expand Sistan-Baluchestan’s banana plantations from current 5,000 hectares to 7,000 hectares in cooperation with the private sector.
Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi, deputy agriculture minister for horticultural affairs, told Mehr News Agency that modern technology will be used in the new plantations to increase yield and quality.
Sistan-Baluchestan province in south-eastern Iran is the country’s banana production hub with the largest area under banana cultivation of about 5,000 hectares, data released by the Agriculture Ministry shows.
Sistan-Baluchestan province accounts for 98% of the country’s banana output and the rest are produced in Hormozgan, southern Kerman, Fars and Bushehr, Zahra Jalili-Moqaddam, director general of the Agriculture Ministry’s Tropical and Subtropical Fruits Bureau said.
Jalili-Moqaddam said that an average of 450,000 tons of bananas are imported into Iran every year while domestic production of the fruit is around 120,000 tons per annum.
“More than 60,000 tons of bananas have been harvested in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province so far this year (started March 20)”, a local official with the Agriculture Ministry, Ardeshir Shahraki, said.
“Among the 5,000 hectares of banana plantations in Sistan-Baluchestan, more than 3,000 hectares of which currently bear fruit,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The Agriculture Ministry official added that it is estimated that a total of 150,000 tons of bananas will be produced in the province this year.
“Chabahar, Konarak and Sarbaz counties account for the lion’s share of the province’s banana yield,” he said.
Besides banana, Sistan-Baluchestan’s tropical climate enables the province to produce mango, papaya, guava and coconut, in addition to watermelon, pomegranate, olive and citrus fruits. Harvest takes place twice a year for most of these fruits.