Webinar Series in support of Iran Greenhouse Investors
Ever since the Iranian government announced its intention to facilitate investments in greenhouse production a few years ago in order to increase greenhouse coverage, the number of investors in this sector has risen considerably. Even prominent non-agriculture companies are starting to show a keen interest to enter this market, with even one or two oil & gas companies joining the rush. A series of webinars is organized to cater to the questions and concerns of greenhouse investors in Iran.
Greenhouse development
The main drivers for the Iranian government to develop protected greenhouse production are: lower water consumption, better product quality and yield, lower or no chemical pest control, food safety, year-long production and export potential. The Netherlands Embassy is supporting the greenhouse development in Iran by matching sector needs with knowledge and technology supplied by horticultural companies and institutions in the Netherlands. Sharing know-how is a pre-requisite for building trust and developing strategic business alliances at a time when Iran -Netherlands relations remain warm despite US imposed sanctions.
Gap in knowledge
In planning these greenhouse expansions, it was quickly realized that there is a large gap between the needs of the business and the supply of manpower delivered by the domestic private and public training institutes in Iran. Traditionally specialized knowledge on greenhouse crop management comes from participating in training programs in the Netherlands, and through inclusion of training into turnkey greenhouse construction projects. This can be an expensive option. Hence, the idea is developed to improve the domestic training capacity through a blended training program approach with likeminded institutions and companies in Iran. Key to initiating this approach is Dutch Sprout (www.dutchsprout.nl) – a consortium of greenhouse educational and training companies and institutions in the Netherlands, linked to Greenport West Holland.
Webinar series
In this spirit, the Netherland Embassy - in collaboration with Dutch Sprout - is organizing a series of webinars on horticultural greenhouse management focusing on greenhouse investors and operators. A first ‘greenhouse investor’ webinar was successfully organized on 1 July 2020 with 34 participants. This webinar focused on the financial and human resource management of greenhouse operations. Two other webinars in the series are planned as follows (dates/topics to be confirmed):
- 19 August: How to operate a greenhouse to reach the full potential & Data driven greenhouse automation: the next step
- 16 September: Choice of greenhouse designs and levels of technology & Lighting Options
- 6 October: How to develop export markets for the emerging Iranian greenhouse cluster
Contact
If you wish to participate in these webinars, please send your name and company/institutional affiliation to the Agricultural Management Assistant at the Embassy: Bozorgmehr.kasravi@minbuza.nl
Team Agro Teheran