8,000 ha of land under medicinal plant cultivation, official
says 

The director for horticulture affairs in North Khorasan
Province’s Agriculture Department said 8,000 hectares of land are under
medicinal plant cultivation in the northeastern province.

Safdar Safdari, the director for horticulture affairs in the
province’s Agriculture Department, said that 1,728 species of medicinal plants
are cultivated in Iran, of which 423 species are cultivated in North Khorasan.

According to the chairman of the Union of Medicinal Plants
Exporters of Iran, the country’s export of medicinal plants can be increased
through compliance more with the world standards, Tehran Times reported.

Mohammad-Ali Rezaei Kamal-Abad stated that world standards
are increasing due to the health-oriented consumption of herbal products, and
failure to comply with these standards will lead to the return or destruction
of these products.

“In the past years, poisons have
entered the country, which are not only not used in other countries, but have
also caused water and soil pollution in our country”, he lamented.

Referring to the importance of agricultural product export
standardization, he added: “Standardization is done in our country, but this
standardization is not up-to-date. With the coordination of ministries,
expenditure and updating of information can help to standardize agricultural
products and develop the export of these products”, he commented.

He said that having more than 11 climates out of 13
climates, Iran has 8,000 varieties of medicinal plants, which is at least twice
as much as Europe.