TEHRAN – Advisor to the Minister of Agricultural Jihad and manager of the Medicinal Plant Project Hussein Zeynali has said that the county’s saffron production is expected to exceed over 400 tonnes in the current Iranian calendar year.
Zeynali said that over 127,000 hectares of farmland have been allocated for saffron cultivation. 
He added 93 percent of the saffron is produced in North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, and South Khorasan provinces, and 23 provinces of the country grow saffron, producing 400-450 tonnes of the strategic commodity per year.
Currently, 67 countries import saffron from Iran. In 2023, the country exported 221 tonnes of saffron worth $207.7 million. Officials say Iran can conveniently raise this figure to $1 billion if it removes certain domestic hurdles and foreign sanctions.
According to one Iranian deputy agriculture minister, Iran’s share of the $11-billion saffron trade does not exceed $400 million in the best harvest years. This is while medicinal plants are notable sources of income in many countries.
It is a medicinal and spice plant known to Iranians more than 4,000 years ago. The word saffron was originally called ‘zarparan’ consisting of the two Persian words of zar meaning gold and paran meaning flower blossoms referring to purple crocuses of the plant.
In the old Persia, saffron was first found near Alvand and Zagros mountains during the kingdom of Media that goes way back to 708 – 550 BC and the Persians were the first race to cultivate it. Alexander the Macedonian is said to have stewed in it in the bath, believing that it helped heal wounds.
Today saffron is mainly used to season and color dishes. It is a strategic product in many aspects, chiefly harvested in the vast plains of Khorasan, but it is being promulgated to other provinces across Iran in recent years.
Saffron is a labor-intensive crop which needs 250,000 flimsy crimson red strands to be plucked laboriously by hand from about 75,000 crocus blooms to make a pound. The flowers must be picked early in the morning before the scent is lost to the heat of the day and then dried.
The push to establish medicinal plants distilling in Iran began 10 years ago, resulting in a limited number of units being set up in some provinces.