TEHRAN – The fourth festival of medicinal herbs, natural products and traditional medicine aiming to showcase Iran’s potential in the field of medicinal herbs will be hold on November 12-15 in Tehran, secretary of headquarters for developing medicinal herbs and traditional medicine science and technology headquarters has said.

“Each province has a special ecology and climate condition compatible with the cultivation of different medicinal plants, which will be namely presented at the festival,” IRNA quoted Mohammad Hassan Osareh as saying on Tuesday.

Part of the capacity in the provinces will be featured in the event, he said, adding that research centers, incubators and science and technology parks affiliated to the public sector will also showcase their latest achievements in the event.

One of the goals of this festival and exhibition is to introduce the achievements of the private and public sectors, as well as encouraging producers and those active in the industry to exchange views about challenges in this sector.

Also presenting the latest scientific achievements in cultivation, harvesting and export of medicinal plants, as well as commercializing medicinal plants are also among the objectives of the event, he added.

On the sidelines of the event, a place will be allocated to tech markets to present new ideas, as a way to connect innovators and investors, Osareh highlighted.

The festival is a major commercial and scientific event in the country’s natural herbs industry, he stated, adding, “it is expected that 400-500 companies active in various fields of cultivation, harvesting and processing of medicinal plants, as well as various pharmaceutical products, beverages, flavors and cosmetic colors participate in the event.”

“In this event, it is scheduled to provide opportunities through presenting the latest technological achievements of the companies which are active in this sector, especially knowledge-based companies,” he concluded.

The fourth festival of traditional herbal medicine aims at introducing the latest scientific and industrial achievements in the technological products of medicinal plants in order to shift from an oil-based economy, and remove the barriers and challenges the development of the medicinal plant industry is facing.

Efficient synergy to implement the roadmap of the national document for medicinal plants and traditional medicine; promoting the culture of knowledge-based economy as a driving force for transition to a resilient economy based on entrepreneurship, are the other features of the festival.

In July, Javad Mirarab an official with the Ministry of Agriculture said that Medicinal plants are cultivated on some 188,000 hectares of lands in Iran.

He also said that exports of the aforesaid medicinal plants brought $450 million for Iran last year, and saffron with a value of $325 million constituted the largest share of exports.

Meanwhile, head of the natural products department at Food and Drug Administration Mahnaz Khanavi said that natural and herbal medicines constitute 4 percent of the total amount of medicines used in the country.

According to the World Health Organization, Traditional (WHO) herbal medicines are naturally occurring, plant-derived substances with minimal or no industrial processing that have been used to treat illness within local or regional healing practices. Traditional herbal medicines are getting significant attention in global health debates.

Global herbal market size is estimated approximately $72 billion which is predicted to reach $7 trillion by 2050. Medicinal plants are used in various industries which are worth around $80 billion.

Europe is the largest herbal product market valued at $7.5 billion and has 40% market share. China has the highest number of medicinal plants and also is the leader in export of medicinal plants globally having 15% sharing global export under this category.