TEHRAN – Practical and research-based techniques offered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to farmers in Rafsanjan, the heart of Iran’s pistachio industry, have helped them cope with specific challenges, primarily water shortages and climate variability.

Special training sessions have been delivered in collaboration with the Pistachio Research Institute as part of a project to improve production and export through techniques designed for direct use in orchards.

At first light, Maryam Gholam Alizadeh, 42, moves among the rows of pistachios. The grove is low and spreading; its leaves catch what little moisture the morning holds.

On one hectare of increasingly dry land, more than 700 trees require close attention. Maryam pauses, studies a leaf, then the soil beneath it, reading signs that guide decisions with little room for error. Heat, water scarcity, and contamination can undo a season’s work. As a farmer, and especially as a woman farmer, she knows that access to reliable, technical knowledge and training, not a given for women in many countries, is as critical as water itself.

Maryam has cultivated pistachios for more than six years. Trained in agricultural research, she returned to farming out of personal interest and a strong connection to local tradition, learning first from experienced growers in her community and refining her approach through observation and practice in her own fields.

That combination of formal knowledge and field experience shaped how she approached the training sessions organised in collaboration with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture - Jahad.

With her six years of orchard management, Maryam was already very familiar with these problems. However, she needed tools that could be applied immediately.

“In recent years, we had many problems,” she says. “Low water-use efficiency reduced productivity, and extreme weather affected the trees.”

That immediacy mattered because during the growing season, her days are measured and deliberate. She manages pests, prunes damaged branches, and prepares the orchard for harvest, adjusting constantly to the stresses facing the trees.

Another serious threat facing pistachio growers is aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin is a toxic substance produced by certain fungi that can develop when pistachios are exposed to high humidity, pest damage, or poor handling. Once present, it can lead to entire harvests being rejected by export markets, undermining farmer incomes and threatening the competitiveness of one of the country’s most important crops.

Addressing this, FAO experts visited specialized laboratories to assess sampling procedures and analytical methods used to detect aflatoxin contamination in pistachios. The results of these assessments and internationally recognized standards were then shared with the technicians, researchers, and technical institutions, strengthening quality control along the pistachio value chain.

After applying the new techniques learned in the training, Maryam began to see obvious changes. Managing her orchard became more predictable, tree health stabilized, and yields improved gradually. “Many problems became easier to solve once we understood the causes,” she says.

The experience also strengthened Maryam’s recognition within the farming community. She shares what she has learned with other growers, contributing to broader resilience across the region.

Maryam’s focus extends beyond her own grove. She has three children and hopes to pass on both the tradition and the skills she has developed. “Pistachios are more than a crop,” she says, brushing a leaf between her fingers. “They are our heritage, our family’s income, and our future.”

At the national level, FAO’s pistachio programme has strengthened the technical capacities of more than 700 growers, processors, traders, extension officers, and laboratory experts across Iran’s main pistachio-producing provinces, supporting improved productivity, aflatoxin control, and resilience in a sector that covers over 445 000 hectares and represents more than 21 percent of the country’s bearing orchards.

Photos: FAO/Faranak Bakhtiari