The Regional Office for the Near East of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will organize in collaboration with the Commissions for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region and South-West Asia a Regional Train of Trainers Training Course on Desert Locust Operations in Ramsar, Iran during the period from 7 - 14 May, 2010.

 

The training course will be attended by Locust and Plant Protection Officers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen, Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan, in addition to the Secretaries of both commissions as trainers and Master Trainers from Egypt and Oman.

 

The main objective of the training is to train the participants to be national master trainers in order that they take the responsibility of organizing and conducting national training courses in their home countries on Desert Locust related subjects without any external assistance.

 

It is worth to note that since the beginning of last year 2009, the Desert Locust situation was relatively calm in the whole locust breeding belt, nevertheless, surveys and close monitoring of locust habitat were conducted regularly by the countries. FAO is regularly providing the member countries with updates, forecast and global locust development. As a result of information dissemination between FAO member countries and the regular surveys, the preventive strategy of locust is well advanced. However, as soon as any sign of Desert Locust activities detected, immediate intervention and control measures are undertaken.