National Road Map Research Program for the Horticultural Product Waste Management:

High volume of the waste materials  both in the fields and in the processing plants force the decision makers to seriously think in order to propose a National Road Map Research Program (NRMRP) considering the 20 Years National Development Plan (20YNDP) to manage the waste materials in different stage of the agricultural activities specially in post harvest and processing activities.

Environmentally pollution control, use of the residual in the field, job creation through design and establishment of small and medium business in the rural area, by-products development from the waste material, and reducing importation of number of chemicals and by-products are some of the potential advantage of the NRMRP. Jehad-Agriculture Institute of Engineering was assigned by the Jehad-Agriculture Ministry in late 2006 to inscribe the NRMRP in which Fars Engineering Research Center with collaboration of other researchers have been intensively working together over the year to develop part of the NRMRP only for the horticultural products. Fig, citrus product, apple, olive, pomegranate, pistachio, grape, date, walnut and almond are among the most well Iranian horticultural commodities which have been selected in this study due to highest production rate.The road map was designed in three main steps as: a) intensive initial study including gathering all the statistics and information concerning the existing situation of the selected products through the literature and approaching the related industries, b) defining the desired future plan according to the national 20YNDP, and the world experience and progress in the waste management industries, and c) SWOT analysis using a brain storm approach by inviting the specialist in the field of study. The results of the current group working program were to define and propose to the top managers and decision makers at the ministry level the best feasible small, medium and large projects in lab scale, pilot plant or industrial level for the approval. The program will be continued for further technical investigation and in the next year to execute the approved projects.