Nearly 5,700 hectares in Iran are currently under flower cultivation, 2,900 hectares of which are greenhouses and the rest open areas. The annual yield is 800 million cut flowers, apartment plants and hundreds of kilos of flower seeds, IRNA reported.

The blessing of almost ever-shining sun, the diversity of climatic conditions and having cold, semiarid, hot and humid regions all at the same time of the year have provided a unique condition for growing various types of flowers, decorative plants and medical herbs. Therefore, Iran+s share of the world flower market should be at least 3 to 5 percent, while it is only 0.02 percent.

Cultural Problem

Managing Director of Iran+s Flower and Plant Producers Syndicate told IRNA that Iranians annually buy five branches of flowers on average.

Reza Mehrabani added that in the Netherlands and Germany, the comparative figure is from 150 to 200 branches.

“Although economic conditions of the nation are not satisfactory, they do not economize as much as the Iranians do in buying fresh flowers,“ he said.

“This means that the culture of buying flowers is a lot higher in those countries than in Iran.“

Mehrabani said that in those countries even people, who are not well off, pay more attention to buying flowers regularly, while in Iran, most flowers are thrown away at the end of the day.

“If a shopper would keep as many flower branches as he might be able to sell, customers would assume that the quality of flowers at the shop is substandard, or their diversity is limited for them to make a choice and therefore they won+t shop there,“ he said.

He also complained that most Iranians prefer to buy artificial flowers nowadays, while this phenomenon should be seen mainly in southern countries of the Persian Gulf where severe climatic conditions do not permit the cultivation of beautiful fresh flowers all year round.

Differences

Pointing out that Iran+s flower exports last year fetched only $20 million, the official said, “That is while Japan exported hundreds of millions of dollars+ worth of flowers in 1990 to various destinations around the globe. I have to add that the quality of Japanese flowers is not as high as ours either.“

Mehrabani noted that the price of some flowers is higher in the Iranian market than their counterparts in world markets because they are presented in lower volumes here.

Calling for mass production of flowers, the head of flower producers+ syndicate said Iran is lagging behind other countries in presenting flowers to international markets, as producers of Iranian flowers and decorative plants are currently incapable of competing with other countries.

Elaborating on the reasons, he said, “Our producers do not have access to modern greenhouse facilities and that is one of the main reasons. Currently, 95 percent of Iran+s flower houses have plastic roofs on wooden beams and they are all traditional greenhouses.“

Stressing the need for modern greenhouses and related facilities, he said very high quality flowers can be bred to compete in international markets.“

Iranian producers are struggling to survive with greenhouses powered by kerosene heaters and obviously cannot compete with world producers that have the latest technological achievements at their disposal.

“What those people are doing under such conditions is worthy of appreciation,“ he said.

He noted that at Japan+s 1991 Osaka International Flower Exhibition, Iranian gladiolus received the gold medal among 600 foreign producers and the Iranian Susan flower was awarded the bronze medal.

“In fact, winning those high prizes among so many contestants was a sign of the great enthusiasm of Iranian producers who are unfortunately suffering from the lack of facilities,“ he said.

Shortcomings

Pointing out that 5 percent of Iran+s modern greenhouses are located in Mazandaran province, Varamin and Pakdasht (the latter two near Tehran), he said, “Under the current circumstances, we do not propose producers breed all types of flowers and plants everywhere in Iran.“

According to Mehrabani, breeding apartment plants is economically viable only in Iran+s northern Gilan and Mazandaran provinces while hyacinth is best bred only in Mazandaran and the decorative dieffenbachia+s cultivation is not feasible in Tabriz.

“We are trying to identify appropriate parts of the country for the cultivation of different types of flowers and decorative plants,“ he said.

In the past, the country was dependant on flower imports, while the incumbent government intends to turn Iran into a major flower exporter today. This calls for a thorough revision of related laws so as to promote export.

Orchids and Azalias comprise Iran+s majority of imported flowers today and this is not in the interest of Iranian producers. Supporting local producers can play an important role in increasing per capita production of flowers in Iran.

“Unfortunately, the flowers presented in this exhibition have been bred in the Netherlands,“ he said. “We brought the roots of these flowers from the Netherlands and bred them here, while they were all once native flowers.“

“Till when can we fix our eyes on the Netherlands, expecting them to provide us with the flowers we need, since the Dutch do not always present their best varieties to foreigners,“ he added

Obviously, the Dutch do not want Iran to make progress in the world flower market by presenting very old varieties of flowers.

He said the wild species of Cyclamens used to decorate the table at the turn of the Iranian New Year, Norouz, is originally Iranian and are registered in the Netherlands as “Pari-Cyclamens”.

Mehrabani proposed development of research to eliminate all shortcomings and problems.

Iran has no special cargo planes for transporting flowers and this harms the export of flowers. In the luggage section of planes, the passengers+ luggage is a priority and this is not helping the flower sector.