FAO delivers more sprayers and Very Low Volume Formulation pesticides to
Iran, worth over USD 100 thousand, to assist the country in its efforts to
control the desert locust infestation. 

 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
delivers two more consignments of desert locust control equipment and materials
to Iran to further enhance national technical capacity to prevent and decrease
the damages caused by this migratory pest.

According to a
press release published by the FAO Representation in Iran, as part of an
ongoing Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) emergency project being funded by
FAO and implemented in close cooperation with Iran’s Plant Protection Organization
(PPO) under the Ministry of Agriculture-Jahad, the Organization hands over 57
Ultra Low Volume (ULV) pesticides sprayers (including 50 handheld and seven
knapsack sprayers) along with 10.4 metric tonnes of ULV Deltamethrin
pesticides, worth over USD 100 thousand, to PPO.

“Procured through
the FAO allocated fund, these pieces of equipment and materials, including
current deliveries as well as 25 vehicle-mounted sprayers handed over
previously, will boost the technical capacity of Iranian authorities to control
and decrease the volume and extend of pest infestations in the country,” said
Mahnaz Shabani, the FAO Pest Management Specialist.

Emphasising the
criticality of desert locust early warning system, Shabani also asserts, “FAO
will supply Iran with laptops and smartphones and a locally modified and
simplified graphical version of a digital platform named eLocust3 for Android
smartphones to enhance the dedicated national efforts to track, monitor and
report on the desert locust invasion in the country.”

“Providing
high-level learning opportunities for three Iranian master trainers as well as
conducting training workshops for 320 plant protection and agriculture
officers, drivers and plant protection organization provincial heads in five
southern desert locust-stricken provinces of the country, are among the other
important components of this USD 500,000 TCP project being implemented by the
Organization in Iran,” added the FAO Pest Management Specialist.

Entitled Urgent
Action for Capacity Building to Control Desert Locust Infestation in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, this TCP project will also facilitate
the development of an integrated desert locust management strategy for the
country and assist the national authorities in fielding the recommended guidelines
to further improve monitoring and disaster risk reduction of pest infestations
in Iran.

As per Mr Mahmoud
Chalaki, Deputy Head of General and Public Pests of PPO, “over 406,000 ha of
lands and rangelands have been chemically treated across the country during the
last nine months. The presence and density of desert locust have been decreased
in Iran as the pest migrated to summer-breeding areas in the border of Pakistan
and India. However, there are still serious concerns that this pest on its way
back towards the west of summer breeding areas in November infest the country
again.”

FAO, being the UN
specialised agency dedicated to increasing food and nutrition security, is
implementing similar projects in other desert locust-affected countries, all
aimed to support its Member States in managing the threat posed by this
pest. 

 http://www.fao.org/iran/news/detail-events/en/c/1303815/