Gilan hazelnut orchards could not stand it
This year, hazelnut production in Gilan has decreased due to the spring virus and drought, and due to the lack of insurance in many hazelnut orchards in the province, heavy damage has been inflicted on hazelnut growers.
Karim, a hazelnut grower in Garmsarai village, added that half of his crop had been lost due to the cold of spring this year: I have 4 hectares of hazelnut orchards, from which I harvest an average of 3 to 3.5 tons of hazelnuts a year. This year, the cold made my trees unbearable and more than 50% of the crop was damaged.
Reza, another hazelnut grower from Rudsari: I have one hectare of hazelnut orchards. If the weather conditions are good, I can harvest an average of 2 tons of hazelnuts a year, but this year I harvested 300 kilograms of hazelnuts from my garden due to frost.
Due to the fact that most of the hazelnut orchards in Gilan are located in mountainous and cold regions, there is a possibility of their frost, which highlights the need to insure the hazelnut orchards.
Ramazan, a gardener in Rudsar city, pointing out that his garden has been damaged this year and is not insured, added: I have no other job and I only make a living from the same 2 hectares of garden I have, if it is built to insure 300 to 500 hazelnut trees. I have to pay tomans, I have to pay an average of 200 to 300 thousand tomans for two hectares of my land, which has more than 600 trees, which is difficult for me to pay, along with providing other garden necessities, including providing agricultural inputs and taking care of my gardens.
Ehsanullah Mushtaq, director of Rudsar Agricultural Jihad, stating that hazelnut production in Gilan has decreased this year, said: Rudsar city has taken the first place in the province in hazelnut production. There are 12,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards in this city. 13,000 hazelnuts are working in Rudsar. This year, the hazelnut orchards upstream of Rudsar have been damaged and we predict a drop in hazelnut production in Rudsar.
He pointed out that the hazelnut harvest in Rudsar is currently underway, noting that the hazelnut orchards downstream of Rudsar are in a better condition and have suffered less damage due to the spring cold this year. On average, 10,000 tons of hazelnuts were produced annually in Rudsar, but this year, the forecast for hazelnut production in Rudsar is 2,000 to 3,000 tons.
He added: A small number of Rudsari hazelnut growers are covered by insurance and necessary measures should be considered to support them.
Mousavi, the director of Talesh Agricultural Jihad, announced the decline in hazelnut production in Talesh and said: the occurrence of spring virus cold and drought is one of the main reasons for the decrease in crop in orchards. It is expected that 40 tons of hazelnut crop will be harvested in an effort with an economic value of 4 billion rials.
According to the Gilan Agricultural Jihad Organization, the province has about 17,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards, which is equivalent to 85% of Iran’s hazelnut orchards. 42,500 Gilani families in the cities of Rudsar, Amlash, Siahkal, Rudbar, Talesh and Astara annually harvest 12,000 tons of hazelnut orchards, equivalent to about 80% of the hazelnuts produced in Iran.
Considering that Iran ranks fifth, eighth and fourteenth in the world in terms of hazelnut cultivation area, production and yield per hectare, respectively, and Gilan is the first hazelnut producer in the country with 80% production of Iranian hazelnuts, attention to solving problems This producer group will play an important role in maintaining and promoting the global export position of this product. This, of course, requires the special attention of the government and other relevant officials in addition to the attention of provincial officials.