A four-day annual regional technical workshop on locusts in in Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) that was held by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Tajikistan under financial support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) concluded in Dushanbe on November 24.  

The event reportedly gathered representatives of nine (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) of the ten countries participating in the FAO Program to Improve National and regional Locust Management in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) (all except Afghanistan) as well as the FAO international experts.  

The main objective of the workshop was in facilitating further expansion of regional cooperation, exchange of experience, knowledge and lessons learned from campaigns to combat locust infestations the company.

The workshop participants also discussed the advanced approaches to improve the capacity and readiness of the countries to combat locust infestations and reduce the risk of locust outbreaks.

Discussions reportedly concerned the implementation of the program in 2022 and work plan for 2023, the latest developments regarding the Geographic Information System (GIS) entitled “Caucasus and Central Asia Locust Management System” (CCALM), risk reduction associated with locust control operations including biopesticides, innovative approaches such as the use of drones and other technical issues.