Last winter, as the novel coronavirus ominously engulfed the world, it severely affected the countries’ economic sectors. Imports and exports were one of the sectors that drastically deteriorated.
For many years, Iran was the foremost exporter of pistachio due to its proper nature and climate. However, the infectious disease stopped pistachio exports.
This year, at the time of pistachio harvest, the pistachios of last year are still in storage and are rotting away. The pistachio of this year is suffering from the same fate as the previous ones.
In this way, pistachio farmers, especially in Kerman province, inevitably see their crops and livelihoods in danger of destruction. In the meantime, the government of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is only giving statistics and is not intervening to save the harvest.
The Kerman pistachio harvest began in an area equivalent to 34,440 hectares of fertile pistachio orchards in the first half of September. It will continue until the end of October.
According to the state-run Mehr News Agency, 200,000 tons of pistachio products will enter the market by the end of October this year. Meanwhile, the export of Iranian pistachios has stopped since February of last year.
Currently, the pistachios collected from last year and stored in Kerman pistachio warehouses are rotting away. The pistachio of this year has now been added to it, and this issue has become one of the major problems of agriculture in Kerman province.
While the pistachio crop in warehouses is rotting, the life of Kermani pistachio farmers is also in danger of destruction, and the government is not doing anything for them.
On October 9, Mehr quoted a Kermani pistachio activist as saying: “The cost of harvesting and labor has risen sharply, and the price of pesticides and fertilizers is rising. Meanwhile, farmers do not know what to do. Officials announce the production and harvest of the product! This is what the farmers know too.”
And they do all this process. The question is, what do the authorities do for the farmer? We have been shouting for eight months, we cannot export the product. Tell us what you have done to export the product in these few months? At least tell what you did for it, then you are facing closed doors,” the activist added.
Stopping exports does not only include pistachios
Stopping exports is not exclusive to pistachios. Other Iranian goods, including handmade carpets, thanks to the regime’s warmongering and the ensuing global sanctions and of course the corruption of the government’s officials, is now affecting the livelihood of millions of Iranians.
