Iran has 22,477 greenhouses in the current fiscal year (started March 21), 20,623 of which were active, based on new data released by the Statistical Center of Iran. The overall greenhouse area stood at 9,856 hectares with the provinces of Tehran, Kerman, Isfahan, Yazd and Markazi accounting for 21%, 19%, 16%, 10% and 5% of the total area respectively.
More than 1.53 million tons of agricultural products (flowers and ornamental plants excluded) were harvested from the country’s greenhouses in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21) with the main yields being cucumber (accounting for 60% of the total production), tomato (19%), bell pepper (9%) and eggplant (4%). Other crops made up less than 8% of last year’s output.
Tehran accounted for 30%, Kerman for 17%, Isfahan 15%, Yazd 14%, East Azarbaijan 5% and the remaining 26 provinces for 19% of the total output. The Agriculture Ministry plans to transfer all vegetable farms to greenhouses to save 10 billion cubic meters of water per year.
A major hydroponic greenhouse complex was inaugurated in Aras Free Trade Zone last year, which is said to be the biggest in the Middle East. Describing it as "one of the most important agricultural projects in Iran", Morteza Bank, former secretary of the High Council of Free Trade Zones, said the greenhouse is spread across 80 hectares. Russia is said to be the main destination of crops produced in this complex, ILNA reported.
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