Isfahan’s Fourteen Medicinal Plants Festival Commenced

In an interview with IMNA news agency, Asghar Keshavarz Raad stated, “The main goal of this festival is to support manufacturers and producers of the country, make competitive environment among producers to enhance production quality, standards and world criteria, improve medicinal plants export as well as raise people’s knowledge of medicinal plants and natural-based products.”

He added, “In this festival, varieties of dried medicinal plants, herbal extracts, essential oils, herbs and spices, honey, herbal medicine, herbal oils, healthy and natural products, varieties of young shoots, seeds as well as transplantations are available to the visitors both as retail or they are wholesale. The use of these medicinal plants, their features and properties as well as their benefits are also presented to the people.”

Referring to the programs in the festival, the Managing Director of Markets and Urban Jobs Organizations Department of Isfahan’s Municipality said that there was free diet and nutrition counseling as well as detecting visitor’s humors, providing the visitor’s with festival discounts, and refreshing them with herbal tea. He further noted, “This festival went on for five days starting February 14, from 8:00 to 13:00 and in the evening from 16:00 to 22:00 and was held at the Medicinal Plants Market on Parvin Street of Isfahan.”

He also said, “The variety of Iran’s medicinal plant species is twice as much as the whole European continent. So far 8000 species have been identified and the medicinal properties of 2000 of these species is known to us.”

Keshavarz Raad continued, “Considering the fact that out of the 13 global climates, Iran has 11, which also has 4 distinct seasons, the development of medicinal plants and their processing can prevent large amount of foreign currencies from leaving the country in exchange for importing foreign medicine, and that can bring the currencies to our country and for our producers.”

Pointing out the industrialized countries’ approach towards medicinal plants and natural-based products, he said, “Markets and Urban Jobs Organizations Department of Isfahan’s Municipality has endeavored to introduce medicinal plants and top producers of this industry by establishing medicinal plants special market as well as holding technical festivals and conferences.”