Speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony in the village of Imamzadeh Shah Seyed Ali-Akbar Shareza, Hossein Shirzad said: “Iran has 80 thousand hectares of pomegranate cultivation and it produces 750 thousand tons of the fruit annually. This is half the world’s area under pomegranate cultivation.”

He continued: “Our average pomegranate production is 12 tons per hectare. The yield can go up to 50 tons.”

Shirzad said pomegranate is a key production in Iran, adding: “Shahreza is one of 33 growing areas in the country where three types of rare pomegranates are grown, including “Yaghouti” [Rubis] and “Almasi” [Diamonds].