According to the agreement
between Mahmoud Hojjati, Minister of Agriculture-, Jihad and José Graziani da
Silva,  Head of FAO, concerning the
expansion of the global identification of historical backgrounds and Agricultural
biodiversity in Iran, “Saffron cultivation system based on subterranean water”
was approved to be recorded as the fifty fifth globally important agricultural
heritage system (GIAHS),  as well as the third agricultural heritage
from Iran, in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

According to the information
database of the ministry of agriculture-Jihad and according to FAO announcement,
this important achievement was gained with the solid documents and the supporting
evidence presented in the recent meeting of Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) and
Secretariat of the globally important agricultural heritage system (GIAHS), ,
in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Ministry of Agriculture-Jihad congratulates
this great achievement to all the saffron farmers and agriculture community, and
stated that the main purpose of doing this is to identify, introduce, and protect
the world's agricultural heritage.

They also stated that this case,
i.e.  Saffron cultivation system based on
subterranean (underground) water qualified five criteria including: food
security and livelihood of rural households; agricultural biodiversity; local
and native and traditional knowledge; culture and value systems; and social
organizations and natural landscapes and agricultural tourism.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, in
terms of history and civilization, has significant capacities from the World
Heritage point of view, and after recording agriculture based on subterranean (underground) water   in 2014 in FAO, and also Malayer Grapes and Saffron
cultivation system based on subterranean
(underground) water  in 2018,  several other cases have been completed by the
Ministry of Agriculture-Jihad and submitted to the secretariat globally
important agricultural heritage system (GIAHS) of  the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).