Increasing barberry production efficiency in Iran
South Khorasan province with the production of 98% of Iranian barberry has been able to occupy the first place in the production
of this product in the world.
More than 14,000 hectares of land in South Khorasan province are dedicated to barberry cultivation,
of which about 13,000 tons of this crop with an economic value of more than 65 billion tomans are harvested annually.
This product, which is considered to eliminate indigestion, prevent bleeding, eliminate anorexia, reduce fat and blood sugar and treat sore throat,
with low need for irrigation, has been able to adapt to the soil and saline conditions of this region, and Ghaen cities,
Darmian and Birjand have the highest area under barberry cultivation.
Each hectare of barberry creates employment for 200 people a year and this product has a special place in the regional economy
because 50,000 people are directly exploited and 5,000 people are indirectly involved in the production, distribution and processing of this product.
While the marketing and export of barberry is of particular importance in the region, the processing of this traditional and manual product
is done because farmers do not have the financial capacity to set up conversion and mechanized processing industries and the private
sector has not yet invested in this field.
There is only one barberry concentrate factory in the province, and it is active only in Ghaen city,
which produces products such as jams, concentrates, soft drinks, lavashka, etc.
It is to be said;
Each kilo of branch barberry costs 1,100 to 1,400 tomans and each kilo of high-quality puffed barberry costs 8,000 to 9,000 tomans.
However, despite the high production of this product, no action has been taken in the direction of processing and packaging,
which has kept the value of this product low. Also, barberry propagation method is mainly done in a traditional way, which is very low efficiency.