December 1, IFIF public relation- During a meeting of Iranian delegation headed by Iran`s minister of agriculture Mahmood Hojjati and his Austrian counterpart Andra Rupperchter and officials which was held in Vienna, Secretary General of Federation of Iranian Food Associations Kaveh Zargaran held talks about Iran`s capacities and potentials in the field of agriculture and food industry.

Zargaran underlined the variety of Iran`s potentials and capacities in developing the food production and the processing of food and said “Iran has a variety of agricultural resources and facilities - arable lands (Iran is 165 million hectares, from which only 51 million hectares is cultivable and only 18 million of this area has been used in the cycle of cultivation), forests and natural pastures, different climates and significant genetic resources, rich flora and benefiting from the solar power- which has made it possible to produce all kinds of cold, subtropical and tropical food (more than 100 million ton).”

He added “Out of the 70 types of food and food products, Iran is one of the mass producers of 30 of them( Rated the world’s first producer of pistachio and berries, rated the second in the production of apricot, watermelon, organic butter(manufactured from the milk of the sheep), walnut , sheep’s milk, cucumber and cantaloupe, rated the third in producing cheese from the cow's milk, dried mushroom, cherry, dried fig, almond, eggplant and raisin, rated the fourth in the production of onion, alfalfa and fodder, rated the fifth in the production of lettuce, tomato paste, macaroni, and rated the sixth in the production of plum and spices). Besides, Iran earned the world’s third place in the variety of food.”

It should be mentioned that the food industry, with more than 10,000 of industrial units, 400,000 of jobs (units with more than 10 employees) and the absorption capacity of more than 150 tons of raw materials, has a significant share in creating the industrial added-value and the synergy of country’s industry and agriculture.

Zargaran also outlined Iran`s capabilities in export and said “By exporting products such as pistachio, fresh tomato and tomato paste, watermelon, fresh apple, yogurt, cheese, potato, sweets, biscuits, Saffron and animal products ,etc. our country has acquired a large share of the food market of 100 countries, including the market of neighboring countries and the Middle Eastern countries. And over the past decades, the agricultural sector and the food industry has gained the largest volume of the country's labor force. Besides, a large part of the revenues from non-oil exports has always been funded from the sale of food and food products. In 2014, exports of food and food products amounted to 6.8 billion dollars, and obtained 19 percents of the non-oil exports. “

At the end of this meeting an agricultural cooperation document was signed between Iranian Minister of Agriculture and Austrian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.