FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia

Locust control on the go

18/07/2019

Every morning at dawn, Khojamiyor Umarov leaves his house in the Mastchoh district of Tajikistan and rides his motorbike through the small hills and rocky terrain of this agrarian area in the northern part of the country. As he has done for more than 20 years, he is checking the fields for locusts.

Why? Umarov, a senior specialist with the state entity “Locust Control Expedition,” knows just how important it is to be vigilant about these voracious pests. The work he does here helps to ensure early warnings of locust outbreaks and thus timely responses to them.