TEHRAN- Lalehzar plains, located in the southeastern province of Kerman, has earned worldwide reputation for its rose water - mostly pre-ordered up to a year in advance by famous American and European perfume manufacturers - the Persian service of the Mehr news agency reported on Friday.

Lalehzar plains in Bardsir County, has turned its fortune around. Once a poverty-stricken area where locals were tempted to cultivate opium poppies to make ends meet, it now ranks as the second producer of rose water in the country.
It happened just before the Islamic Revolution, when a man named Homayoun Sanatizadeh and his wife went there and encouraged people to cultivate roses. The couple had done great deal of research, and they knew that the area and the climate were very suitable for growing roses.
However, the idea was at first mocked by officials and locals. But as time went by and with the couple’s efforts, a blanket of rose flowers gradually covered the area .They also built a workshop for producing rose water which is now being run by some orphans many years after the couple’s death.
Mohamamd Kasayee, an agricultural expert, told the Mehr that the cultivation of rose in Lalehzar plains was a smart idea carried out based on study and research.

“The cultivation of rose is cost-effective, and the climate here has made it possible to produce the best rose water in Iran. It is totally true that today´s bread and butter of thousands of families in Kerman depend mostly on rose flowers,” he said.

“Giving a new lease of life to a once upon a time poverty-stricken area, Bardsir and Lalehzar with vast patches of roses and hundreds of manufacturers are now attracting thousands of tourists from across Iran each year,” Kasayee concluded.
Kerman is now the second producer of rose water in Iran, and the business is booming day by day.