Iran is the sixth largest producer of hazelnuts in the world

Iran is the sixth largest producer of hazelnuts in the world

One million and 100 thousand tons of hazelnuts are produced annually in the world and Iran is the sixth producer of this product in the world with a production of 31 thousand tons.

Turkey, with 71% of the area under hazelnut cultivation and an annual production of 500,000 tons of hazelnuts, is the first producer of this product, followed by Italy, the United States, Spain and Azerbaijan, respectively, the largest producers of hazelnuts in the world.

In Iran, the provinces of Gilan, Qazvin, Mazandaran, Ardabil, Zanjan and Qom are the largest producers of hazelnuts. According to the director of Rudsar Agricultural Jihad, this city produces 90% of the country’s hazelnuts with 12,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards and a factory for packing, drying and Performs all processing of this product.

Hazelnut, despite its 18,000 hectares of cultivated land, like many other agricultural products, suffers from a raw and bulk supply.

While other countries, including Turkey, earn huge revenues from the processing of this product by creating processing industries, due to the expansion of its processing industries, they are not able to supply all the hazelnuts they need and import hazelnuts from Iran and process this product as products. Like chocolate and sweets, they export to Iran at a price several times the value of raw hazelnuts!

Lack of conversion industries for processing hazelnut crop has caused farmers to sell their products at the lowest price, so considering that according to the Fifth Development Plan, 5,000 hectares should be added to the area of ??hazelnut orchards in our country, along with the development plan for suitable processing and complementary orchards This product should be created in which case, in addition to the uses of dried fruits such as European countries, this valuable product will be used in cosmetic, health and pharmaceutical products.