DUSHANBE, July 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- The UN''s Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) is ready to work out a long-term program to combat locust infestation in Tajikistan, according to press service of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). 

This issue was discussed at a meeting of the Minister of Agriculture Qosim Qosimov with the UN FAO representatives in Dushanbe on July 22.  In the course of the talks, the minister appreciated FAO’s support for combating locust infestation in the country and pointed to the necessity of setting a regional organization for combating locust infestations.   

We will recall that the UN FAO called on April 19 2008, for $500,000 in aid to cover the cost of essential pesticides and equipment, warning that unless those funds are received by next week, it may not be able to avert a major outbreak.

President Emomali Rahmon convened in April an emergency cabinet meeting to review measures to combat the locust infestation and issued instructions to use airplanes to spray toxic chemicals and insecticides.

Specialists attributed the locust infestation to a disruption of the insects'' usual seasonal migration pattern by the unusually early onset of hot weather after a record cold winter.