According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Hossein Zeinali, the project manager of medicinal herbs, reported a 37% growth in the export of essential oils and by-products of medicinal plants over the past two years compared to previous years.

Last year, 20,000 hectares of land were cultivated for medicinal plants, he added.

“Iran is exclusively home to 1728 species of medicinal plants,” he said.

“In a nine-month period since March 2019, Iran exported five million kilograms of essential oils and by-products of medicinal plants, which generated over $450 million for the country,” he noted, adding “$200 million worth of these exports belonged to saffron.”