History and Importance of Saffron
The background of Saffron agriculture goes
back to 2500 years ago, this plant seems to be native to Greece and The
Mediterranean region, but some believe that the first habitat of Saffron was at
the mountain range of Zagros and to be more precise at the Alvand region in
Iran.
Although in the past this plant’s
agriculture was in the central part of Iran now it is narrowed down to the
South of Khorasan province and Fars, Kerman and Yazd as well. Iran is the
biggest producer of Saffron in the world and over 90 percent of the world
Saffron production is from Iran.
This plant has several unique points such
as low need of water, good production time from farmers perspective- (which is
fall, winter and the beginning of spring), lots of employment and the main
income of most farmers.
In every agricultural year, every hectare
of Saffron needs 270 human work force and for the agriculture of 47208 hectares
saffron in Iran every year it produces the employment of 12.7 million human
work force.
The Iran production of Saffron in different
years has different rates and it is mostly dependant on the atmospheric
precipitations of production regions. Iran’s production of Saffron in the year
1380 was 160 tones which most of it was exported.
Because of the orientation of the people in
the society to using natural additives instead of chemical ones in their daily
needs and foods, using Saffron as a colorant and flavor has highly increased.
In these days Saffron is used greatly in
the cooking industry, confectionery, drinks and pharmaceutical use. Lately it
is more used because of the beneficial biological effects and especially
because it is an anticancer. Other than the “kalaleh” of Saffron which is the industrial
part of it, the other parts are used as well. Food colorant can be produced by
the “golbarg” of Saffron, because this part of the plant has “antoxanin”
pigment.
1.Production Part
Saffron: It’s a plant that is a couple
years old (Family Iridaceae) and it is known as red gold in the producing
countries.
This plant is the most expensive plant that
is cultivated in the world. In medical science Saffron is known as a sedative,
urination, anti asthma and anti stroke.
Saffron is the most important herb in Iran
and it is mostly cultivated in Khorasan Razavi province (84226 hectare), South
Khorasan province (15782 hectare) and North Khorasan province (2751 hectare).
Saffron is one the oldest, most precious
and most expensive plants that has plenty spice uses as well as medicine uses
which can be found in wide geographic belts at the Mediterranean
beaches in the west and can be cultivated and used.
In world scale this product has 3-4 percent
of the spice industry to itself. The worlds biggest producers of this product
are Iran, Spain, India, Greece, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Australia.
With a year production of about 336 tones
of Saffron and a cultivation area of about 105 thousand hectares Iran is the
biggest producer of this plant in the world which is about 90 percent of the
world production. Iran’s Saffron covers almost all markets in the world either
directly or indirectly. At this moment Saffron is cultivated in almost all
parts of Iran (30 provinces).
Exports
In 2017, herb exports from Iran reached
169012 tones which were Saffron, Damask rose and other plants which in order
had export rates of 237 tones (325 billion dollars), 4675 tones (16 billion
dollars) and 164101 (110 billion dollars). Iranian herbs are mostly imported to
the following list of countries: UAE, China, Spain, Germany, France, Pakistan.
Surface under cultivation, production, and
performance of saffron in 10yrs in Iran
Surface under cultivation
|
Production (Ton)
|
Performance (kg/ha)
|
105750
|
336
|
3.3
|
Saffron production in various provinces in
2016 in Iran
1
|
Province
|
Surface under cultivation (ha)
|
Production (ton)
|
Relative percentage of total
|
2
|
Khorasan Razavi
|
82712
|
257
|
76%
|
3
|
Southern Khorasan
|
15754
|
52
|
15%
|
4
|
Yazd+Fars+Isfahan+
Kerman+
Northern Khorasan
|
5260
|
22
|
7%
|
5
|
Other provinces
|
1544
|
6
|
2%
|
6
|
Total (sum)
|
105270
|
336
|
100%
|