Nouri Qazaljeh: At least one million tons of apples should be exported this year

Damavand- The Minister of Jihad Agriculture, referring to the increase in apple production, considered the export of at least one million tons of this product necessary to balance the domestic market and announced the pursuit of export obstacles.

According to Mehr reporter, Gholamreza Nouri Qazalje, on Tuesday evening at the 4th Damavand apple festival, pointing to the increase in the production of agricultural products and the need to strengthen the export market, announced the goal of exporting at least one million tons of apples this year.

The Minister of Jihad of Agriculture stated that the volume of apple production has increased this year and said: to balance the domestic market, at least one million tons of apples should be exported.

He emphasized: The issue of apple export was brought up in the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad before the gardeners' concerns escalated, and the set of responsible agencies are following up on obstacles and developing export routes.

Nouri Qazaljeh added: Some export problems can be solved inside the country, but part of the obstacles are related to the decisions and behavior of the destination countries, and their solution requires the interaction and cooperation of producers and executive bodies.

Referring to the difficult conditions of the past year, the Minister of Jihad Agriculture said: Despite the war, sanctions, restrictions and various problems, the agricultural sector not only faced a decrease in production, but also experienced an increase in production based on official statistics.

He stated that the agricultural sector has grown significantly among the economic sectors and stated that the production of chicken meat has increased by 5.2% and the country has become self-sufficient in this sector and has become an exporter of chicken meat.

Nouri Qazaljeh also announced the forecast of a decrease of 2.5 to 3 million tons of imports this year compared to last year and added: There has been an increase in production in products such as corn, oilseeds and rice.

In another part of his speech, he considered the lack of electricity as one of the serious problems of Damavand farmers and said: About 100 hectares of land has been allocated to help supply the electricity needed by the agricultural sector of the region and measures related to the implementation of this plan are being followed.

The Minister of Agricultural Jihad considered increasing productivity as one of the ways to reduce production costs and noted that gardeners and responsible agencies should increase production per unit area by using knowledge, technology and new methods to reduce the cost of products and make agricultural activity more economical.

In the end, Nouri Qazalje emphasized on continuing to support gardeners, developing export markets, increasing productivity, and providing infrastructure needed by Damavand's agricultural sector.