JIROFT (Southeast Iran) Deputy of Agriculture Department in Jiroft in southeast Iran said that thirty percent of the dates harvest are ruined in Jiroft and Kahnouj owing to a disease that is locally called "drying of clusters".

He told IRNA on Tuesday that the palm tree farmers have incurred losses amounting to 40 billion rials.

He estimated the palm groves in the two towns at 27,000 hectares, the annual dates produce at 130,000 tons and its value at 130 billion rials.

He said that the disease had started from palm groves in Boushehr, Hormozgan and Kerman provinces (all located in southern Iran) and is spreading to other palm groves in the country.

He pointed out that during the past two years several research groups have been assigned to the region for diagnosis of the disease and the means of countering it.

The disease makes the date clusters go black and the fruits shed before ripening.

In some palm groves in Jiroft flatlands the produce have been ruined by eighty percent because of the disease.

The deputy of Agriculture Department also added that the heat and drought have aggravated the problem.