QURGHON TEPPA, April 7, Asia-Plus — the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has allocated additional 2.5 tons of pesticides to the Khatlon province to combat a locust infestation.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the first deputy Khatlon governor, Abdurahmon Qodirov, noted that they have to date used 4.5 tons of chemicals to treat 17,000 hectares of the affected areas.
According to him, a serious locust infestation has spread to some 55,000 hectares in the province so far. “We have another 25 days; if we fail to destroy locusts for this period they will spread to larger area,” the first deputy governor said, noting that 3,600 people, including 500 servicemen of the Ministry of Defense and the Committee for Emergency Situations (CES), and necessary equipment have been involved in combating the locust infestation in Khatlon.
He added that the most districts are Khuroson, Shahritus, Vakhsh, Nosiri Khusrav and Rumi.
