DUSHANBE, May 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — Locust infestation has hit more than 55,000 hectares of farmland across Tajikistan so far, director of the state unity enterprise, Fight against Locust Infestation, Qiyomiddin Ghaniyev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, the enterprise specialists have studied 131,000 hectares of lands to this date. In all, they have to study 288,000 hectares across the country. “More than 44,000 hectares of the locust-affected areas have already been treated,” the director said, noting that the worst hit region is the Khatlon province, where the locust infestation has affected more than 41,000 hectares of farmland.
In the northern Sughd province, locusts have hit more than 3,500 hectares of agricultural fields, Ghaniyev added.
We will recall that last year, locust infestation hit more than 114,000 hectares of land in the country, including 84,000 hectares in Khatlon. Last year’s locust infestation was attributed to a disruption of the insects” usual seasonal migration pattern by the unusually early onset of hot weather after a record cold winter.
