The performer of the National Medicinal Plants Plan for the Agriculture Ministry predicted the production of about 450,000 tons of medicinal plants this year.

According to The Iran Project, Hossein Zeinali stated that the annual harvest of medicinal plants from the country's farms is more than 400,000 tons.
 
Currently, nearly 260,000 hectares of medicinal plants are cultivated in the country, he added.
 
One of the programs of this year is the cultivation of 50,000 hectares of medicinal plants in the rainfed lands with the participation of the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Directive, the official said.
 
We hope that this goal will be achieved and we will witness the growth of cultivation of these products in rainfed farms, Zeinali noted.
 
He further said, “Out of the 50,000-hectare plan to cultivate medicinal plants in the rainfed lands, 8,000 hectares have been cultivated so far.”
 
Last year, nearly 18,000 hectares of rainfed lands were devoted to the cultivation of medicinal plants, he asserted.

It is worth mentioning that so far, about 30,000 plant species have been identified in the world, with Iran's share of about 8,000 species which is more than the whole of species found in Europe.

Some 2,300 species of medicinal plants have been identified in the country, accounting for one-third of the medicines used in human societies.

The per capita consumption of medicinal plants in Iran is about one kilogram of dried plants, in other words, 83,000 tons of medicinal plants worth 1.2 trillion rials (around $4 million) are consumed in the country, while in Europe this amount is 900 grams and in the United States is 2.5 kilograms.