DUSHANBE, March 9, 2010, Asia-Plus  - The first session of the republican commission for prevention of locust infestation, presided over by Minister of Agriculture Qosim Qosimov, took place in Dushanbe at the end of last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

Qiyomiddin Ghaniyv, head of the state-run enterprise for combating locust, reported on measures taken by specialists to prevent a serious locust infestation this year.

According to him, their specialists have examined 275,200 ha of farmland by March 1 and locust grubs have been discovered on an area of 150,000 hectares.

The meeting participants discussed measures to combat locust infestation this year.

Yusuf Murodov, head of the chemicalization and plant protection enterprise, in particular, noted that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has not yet remitted funds allocated by the government for combating locust infestation this year to his enterprise.

We will recall that locust infestations caused quite a serious damage to the country’s agrarian sector last year.  Specialists attributed last year’s infestation to a disruption of the insects’ usual seasonal migration pattern by the unusually early onset of hot weather.