Iran eyeing expansion of herbal medicine production

Iran, with its vast herbal species and skilled human resources, has a huge potential to expand herbal medicine production, an Iranian official says. 

Rouhollah Dehghani Firouzabadi, Acting Vice President for Science and Technology, made the remarks in the inauguration of the sixth national festival and exhibition of medicinal plants and traditional medicine that kicked off on Tuesday in the Iranian capital Tehran, with Minister of Agriculture Javad Sadati Nejad in attendance.

Firouzabadi said, “8,000 plant species have been identified in the country, of which 2,500 plants have medicinal properties and 1,800 species are native to Iran.”

He added herbal medicine production in Iran in recent years has created a great capacity with its turnover exceeding 3 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Sadati Nejad said the Iranian Agriculture Ministry has plans to sign contracts with farmers to encourage them to allocate part of their products to herbal medicine. 

He also called on officials to reduce reliance on crude oil revenues by investing more on Knowledge-Based Companies active in the herbal medicine field.