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TEHRAN – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has delivered the fourth shipment of equipment to the Iranian Plant Protection Organization to support locust control operations in the country.
According to a press release published by the FAO Representation in Iran, this shipment includes 28 units of vehicle-mounted Ultra Low Volume (ULV) sprayers, valued at approximately $ 81,000.
Funded by the Chinese government, this delivery is part of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Program Supporting FAO’s Global Action to Control the Desert Locust Project, which aims to curb the spread of desert locusts in countries interested by sharing technologies modern, apply effective techniques and proven solutions to control locusts in the five countries of Pakistan, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Iran.
Along with the previous three shipments, FAO has so far supplied 110 ULV sprayers and 10.4 metric tons of ULV deltamethrin pesticide, in the amount of more than $ 305,000, to support national capacity.
FAO is also implementing an emergency program in the country’s technical cooperation program to help the Plant Protection Organization fight this migratory pest by providing the necessary technical knowledge, skills and equipment to detect, track, monitor, report and respond quickly to desert locust infestations in the country.
As a result of the influx of locusts in the southern parts of the country this [Iranian calendar] year (as of March 21), a total budget of 200 billion rials (nearly $ 4.7 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been earmarked to fight the desert locust swarms.
Last [Iranian calendar] year (March 21, 2019), desert locusts penetrated the provinces of Bushehr, Fars, Hormozgan, Kerman, Khuzestan and Sistan-Baluchestan, causing severe losses on over 500,000 hectares of farmland and gardens.
FAO explains that desert locust infestations are normally found in southeastern Iran during the spring. Local farming coincides with seasonal rains which often occur from around February or March until April or May. In warmer years, the rains that occur during the winter can lead to breeding in late winter and early spring.
In June, the vegetation is usually dry again and all the adults that were produced during the spring move east to the Indo-Pakistani summer breeding areas. Most spring spawning occurs along a 450km stretch of coastal plains on the Arabian Sea from Jask (Hormozgan) and the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman in the west to Chabahar and Gwadar (Sistan-Baluchestan) near the border with Pakistan in the East.
The most prominent area along the coast is the Vashnum Plains near Chabahar. If the rains fall and the temperatures are warm, breeding can also take place in the interior, namely in the Jaz Murian basin from Kahnuj to Iranshahr, and in the valleys of Zaboli, Suran and Saravan leading to Panjgur, Pakistan. Adults of the desert locust rarely traverse the mountains north of these areas.
FB / MG
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