Sesame renaissance: Iran's emerging influence in the global sesame market

Sesame seeds and their various derivatives, such as sesame oil, can be special in household diets worldwide due to their unique nutritional and health properties. Despite the long history of sesame cultivation in Iran and its suitability to the Iranian climate, Iran remains an importer of sesame. In other words, sesame production in Iran faces numerous constraints and obstacles, limiting its production capacity. This study aims to present sesame production status in Iran over the past 22 yr, elucidating the production trends, quantity and value of imports, obstacles, and solutions for sustainable sesame seed production in the country. To achieve this goal, in addition to reviewing national and international databases, extensive correspondence was conducted with stakeholders in sesame production, ranging from farmers to researchers, promoters, and policymakers, to compile a comprehensive list of leading challenges in sesame production and operational solutions to overcome these challenges. The analysis revealed that the most significant challenges in sesame production in the country could be categorised into seven main sections, including poor agronomic management, soil fertility decline, pest, diseases and weed issues, inadequate breeding programs, lack of sustainable financial support, an uncertain sesame market and fragmented and ineffective research. To address these issues, it is essential to enhance sesame production by updating agricultural management practices, introducing and making high-yielding and stress-tolerant varieties accessible, improving soil management techniques, conducting applied research, and transferring knowledge to farms. Also, establishing sesame producer associations and cooperatives can help eliminate intermediaries in the production-to-sales chain. Timely support from government institutions for small-scale sesame producers and raising consumer awareness of sesame's nutritional and health benefits and its by-products are crucial to overcoming these challenges. All these actions can lead to the promotion and development of sesame production in Iran to meet the high domestic and global demand for this valuable and nutritious seed. This cannot be achieved without increased interaction between farmers, researchers, promoters, and policymakers.