TEHRAN: Spring tea harvest in Iran has ended with the production of 44,300 tons of fresh tea leaves worth more than 1 trillion rials (over $26.7 million), registering a 9% increase compared with last year’s output, the deputy head of Iran Tea Organization said. “Tea undergoes three harvests a year. One is the spring harvest that starts in late April. The second in summer begins early June and the last one is in autumn and starts late September,” Kheirollah Amiri was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Last year (March 2016-17), the government purchased more than 139,000 tons of fresh tea leaves, worth 2.34 trillion rials (close to $62 million) from farmers, of which 31,200 tons of dried tea were produced. Tea is cultivated in Iran’s northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran where 50,000 families earn their living from tea farming on more than 25,000 hectares of fields. Close to 100,000 Iranian households earn their living, directly or indirectly, through tea production.
