For some Iranians, it's a galling thought: the United States may oust Iran as the world's largest producer of pistachio nuts this year because of one of the worst harvests ever in the Islamic Republic. The popular nibble is Iran's main export commodity outside the oil sector, earning it more than $1 billion last year, and providing many people with jobs in the arid, southeastern province of Kerman, which has 140,000 pistachio farmers. Unusually cold weather during the flowering in April dealt a blow to the 2008 crop, which farmers say is down by as much as 75 percent from last season's record of 280,000 tons (617.3 million pounds). The shortfall has helped push up pistachio prices but not by enough to compensate for lower volumes, they say. Mehdi Agah, a board member of Iran's Pistachio Association, said the country was experiencing the so-called Dutch Disease, where the value of a currency is strong because of lucrative oil or gas exports, hurting the ability of other sectors to compete internationally. The pistachio problem alone would be serious enough in a country where the official jobless rate is around 10 percent, but there is also a political dimension. The Sarmayeh business daily said last month the United States might this year produce more pistachios than Iran for the first time. Barring any major weather problems, “we would expect to have a crop next year of around 425 million pounds,” executive director Richard Matoian of the US Western Pistachio Association said. The Pistachio Association is hoping for government backing to help shift production to other parts of Iran where there is more water, for example in the west. “If we do this – there will be no fear of American competition,” said Mehdi Agah.
