Iran’s plant protection authority has received the first consignment of pest control equipment supplied by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The delivery, which is part of the ongoing support provided by FAO to Iran for controlling desert locust infestation, includes 25 vehicle-mounted Ultra Low Volume (ULV) sprayers worth around $125,000, according to a press release by the organization’s office in Tehran.
Iran is experiencing the worst desert locust outbreak in the last 50 years. The latest tracking data shows that seven out of 31 provinces of the country have been invaded by this pest so far and the new projection implies that this number might be increased to 10, FAO said.
Although last year Iran managed to conduct pesticide spraying operations in more than 700,000 ha of its rangelands, this year, as the infestations have occurred in larger scales, the country needs to expand the control operation and treat at least one million ha of surface areas.
FAO has financed a $500,000 emergency Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project to further enhance Iran’s national technical capacity for early warning, monitoring, and management of desert locust.
In the framework of this project, FAO assists the Plant Protection Organization of the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad with increasing its technical capacity through training workshops and learning programs for 320 pest and agriculture officers in the locust affected provinces of the country.
This project also provides the country with additional handheld and knapsack sprayers, Personal Protective Equipment, chemicals (pesticides), and data management and communications software and hardware equipment.
The map extracted from the FAO Desert Locust watch website shows the organization's desert locust global forecast for May-July 2020.
FAO, being the UN specialized agency dedicated to increasing food and agricultural development, has implanted similar projects in other affected countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, and East African nations, all aimed to support its Member States in managing the threat posed by the desert locust.
The map from the FAO Desert Locust watch website shows the organization's desert locust global forecast for May-July 2020.