(8 Feb 2015) Organic food - free from pesticides or chemical fertilisers - is becoming increasingly popular among the farmers and health-conscious of Iran.
It's the country's eventual aim to make a quarter of all agricultural goods organic.
Tucked away in this small farm in Lavasan (a small town around 25 kilometres east of Tehran), farmer Hamidreza Hosseini is hard at work.
He cultivates a wide range of organic products, including fruits and vegetables, all of which are completely free from pesticides and chemical fertilisers.
"I produce almost 80 different kinds of agricultural goods," says the 57-year-old.
"Including different kinds of cabbages, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, pumpkins and a lot of others."
Aside from growing fruits and vegetables for clients, Hosseini also experiments with different crops and offers his clients advice on how best to grow their food in an organic and environmentally-friendly way.
"The products are free of pesticides and free of any non-organic additives," he says.
Hosseini's techniques have become so popular clients also ask him to create family-sized farms and greenhouses for them, meaning they can cultivate their own organic products at home.
A few blocks away, Hosseini is checking on a greenhouse he built on the roof of a luxury building.
It's solar-powered and is heated and irrigated automatically, allowing various types of fruits and vegetables to grow all-year round.
Cabbages, peppers, pumpkins, lemons, oranges and carrots are among some of the crops.
According to Hosseini, the greenhouse can easily cater for a family of ten.
"This is a family-sized project, a greenhouse on a roof of a building where it can produce much of the vegetation consumption of a family," he says.
"There are almost 25 different varieties of vegetation including some herbs as well as peppers, paprika, eggplants, tomatoes, etc."
In recent years, several shops dedicated to organic food have appeared on the streets of Tehran.
Ghazaye Salem - or "Healthy Food" - is one of the pioneers, boasting both a shop and restaurant which serves only organic food.
Founder, Ebrahim Irandoost opened the business back in 2003 in the hope of promoting a healthier diet among Tehran's population.
He also wanted to encourage the consumption of certain ancient Persian foods and drinks.
The founder has practiced traditional medicine for years and every day he gives free advice to patients.
Instead of prescribing them medicine, he advises patients to treat themselves with a healthy diet and through traditional Persian herbs.
He's hopeful more Iranians will embrace organic food and treatments in the future.
"We launched this campaign and the people welcomed the move, the reception has been good," he says.
"We hope that across the country more people join this campaign."
The store boasts organic versions of camel meat, chicken, rice, sugar and olive oil as well as a plethora of Persian herbal drinks.
A major development plan in Iran aims to make 25 percent of all agricultural goods organic.
But, according to Irandoost, producing organic crops remains costly.
"Unfortunately, I can say that we don't have more than 50 organic crops in Iran which are fully free of pesticides and chemical fertilisers," he says.
"There is some organic rice, very few organic wheat, organic vegetables and summer crops in Iran. Some people are planting such crops, but they receive no support. The costs are very high, the cost price is very high."
This female customer is convinced of the benefits.
"I buy everything from here, bread, natural hair colour, herbal teas, sweets, etc," she says.
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