DUSAHNBE, May 29, Asia-Plus - Swarms of locusts have infested southern Tajikistan , according to information from the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES).

 The worst hit area is the Khuroson district in the Khatlon province.  In the villages of Sumbula and Khumdon as well as in the jamoat of Qizil Qala, locusts have damaged dozens of hundreds of hectares of farmland, the MES source said. 

At present special sanitary-epidemiological teams have been set up to combat locusts.  An actual area of farmlands destroyed by locusts the farmlands in this area has not yet been known.  Actual volume of damage caused by locusts to the Khuroson district is currently being calculated.  Mechanical and chemical methods have been adopted to deal with the pests.