Iran announces tomato export ban
He added that “for the first time, export of quality tomato kicked off from this sub-province to Qatar.”
Given the above issue, tomato was exporting to the neighboring countries of Iraq and Afghanistan via land but this year, this agricultural product exported to neighboring Qatar via sea.
To create balance in supply and demand market of this product and support tomato farmers, suitable ways have been provided in the country for exporting this kitchen garden product to overseas including Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar.
He put the under-cultivation tomato land area in the current Farming Year in this city at 5,300 ha and it is predicted that 240,000 tons of quality tomato will be produced in this province.
About 50 percent of tomato has been picked in this province since harvesting season, he said, adding, “of total tomato harvested, 10,000 tons has been exported to other countries while the rest has been used in the domestic markets.”
With regard to the rate of tomato purchased by tomato paste manufacturing companies, he reiterated, “tomato paste production units in the country buy 10 tons of quality tomato from farmers of this province daily.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Mohammad-Doost added, “Dayyer sub-province is the main hub of tomato raising out of season in a way that 10,000 farmers are busy working in this city seasonally and permanently.
Every year, out-of-season tomato is cultivated in Iranian months of Mordad and Shahrivar in this province and is harvested in Iranian months of Azar and Dey, he concluded.
FRESH FRUITS & VEGETABLES
India's diverse climate ensures availability of all varieties of fresh fruits & vegetables. It ranks second in fruits and vegetables production in the
world, after China. As per National Horticulture Database published by National Horticulture Board, during 2015-16, India produced 90.2 million metric tonnes of fruits and 169.1 million metric tonnes of vegetables. The area under cultivation of fruits stood at 6.3 million hectares while vegetables were cultivated at 10.1 million hectares.
India is the largest producer of ginger and okra amongst vegetables and ranks second in production of potatoes, onions, cauliflowers, brinjal, Cabbages, etc. Amongst fruits, the country ranks first in production of Bananas (25.7%), Papayas (43.6%) and Mangoes (including mangosteens and guavas) (40.4%).
The vast production base offers India tremendous opportunities for export. During 2017-18, India exported fruits and vegetables worth Rs. 9,410.81 crores/ 1,459.93 USD Millions which comprised of fruits worth Rs. 4,229.03 crores/ 655.90 USD Millions and vegetables worth Rs. 5181.78 crores/ 804.03 USD Millions.
Mangoes, Walnuts, Grapes, Bananas, Pomegranates account for larger portion of fruits exported from the country while Onions, Okra, Bitter Gourd, Green Chilles, Mushrooms and Potatoes contribute largely to the vegetable export basket.
The major destinations for Indian fruits and vegetables are UAE, Sri Lanka, Netherland, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Though India's share in the global market is still nearly 1% only, there is increasing acceptance of horticulture produce from the country. This has occurred due to concurrent developments in the areas of state-of-the-art cold chain infrastructure and quality assurance measures. Apart from large investment pumped in by the private sector, public sector has also taken initiatives and with APEDA's assistance several Centers for Perishable Cargoes and integrated post harvest handling facilities have been set up in the country. Capacity building initiatives at the farmers, processors and exporters' levels has also contributed towards this effort.