Official: Natural medicines comprise a major portion of Iran’s medical herbs industries

Iran’s Vice President for Science, Technology and Knowledge-based Economy Rouhollah Dehghani Firouzabadi says 8,000 species of plants have been identified in Iran so far, including 2,500 medical herbs, 1,800 of which are local to the country.

Iran is a rich country in terms of medical herbs and enjoys a special opportunity to produce wealth from the industry, but is yet to fully tap into the natural potential and give it the share in the economy it deserves.

The industry needs to upgrade itself along the value chain of medical herbs, ranging all the way from cultivation through harvest to the final product and marketing, so that it can play an effective role in the national economy.

Reviving the ancient, but largely neglected industry, and increasing the share of medical herbs in the economy has been a focus of the Center for Development of Medical Herbal Sciences and Technologies and Traditional Medicine of the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-based Economy.

Accordingly, natural medicines now claim a 39% share in the medical herbs industry with the other 61% divided among such categories as food industries and herbal health and make-up products.