Locust invasion causes havoc in the south

Locusts are causing havoc in the southern Uzbek province of Kashkadarya, where farmers and local authorities they have been unsuccessfully fighting the harmful insects since April, while they have destroying large swathes of cotton and grain crops. Kholturaev Mamayusuf, a worker at the Erkin Erdonayev farm in Kashkadarya's Nishan district, bordering Turkmenistan, said that swarms of locusts appeared in the area in the middle of May and were still laying waste to crops. In an effort to stave off the invasion, chemicals were being sprayed from planes and each farm has been provided with a special spraying unit to kill the insects in their fields, though a charge is levied for use of the equipment. Although the pesticide is provided free, many very poor farmers cannot afford to pay for the use of the spraying machinery or for the use of a plane. Despite the extensive use of insecticides, Mamayusuf conceded that the exercise was largely in vain given the sheer numbers of locusts coming in from neighbouring Turkmenistan. There are also health and safety issues around use of the highly toxic insecticide. "We use insecticides against locusts," said Asror Khudaikulov, a worker from the farm. "The instruction for these chemicals says that people need to protect themselves against them with respirators, rubber gloves and boots. But we do not have them." On the Erkin Erdonayev farm, Kholturaev Mamayusuf also expressed concerns about the insecticide. "Chemicals get into ditches and people use water from those ditches," he said. Nurmamat Nazarov, head of the local rural clinic, shared his view. He said that pesticides could harm the human nervous system, stomach and liver. "Nobody has applied to me for medical aid yet," said Nazarov. "But that is possible. Some people who live far from piped water taps use water from irrigation canals, which can be contaminated by insecticides sprayed from planes." Asror Jurayev, the deputy chief of agriculture in Kashkadarya governorate, said locusts had already destroyed or damaged more than 200 hectares of cotton and grain fields in the Nishan district alone. "In other areas locusts have not harmed the sown areas yet," Jurayev said, adding that in 1984 locusts destroyed 20,000 hectares of cotton. "In our province, locusts exist only on 75,000 hectares and the biggest part of these lands are barren lands that are deserts," he explained. According to the US-based Assistance for Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Abatement (AELGA) project, three locust species, including the Italian locust, Calliptamus italicus (L), Moroccan locust, Dociostaurus maroccanus and migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratoria could be found in Central Asia. They all become active in the springtime. "If these cigar-sized creatures were scaled-up to human size, this journey would be equal to circumnavigating the earth in less than two months. The sources of these swarms are the reed beds along the shores of lakes and river deltas in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. These are, in effect, the tallest grasses in the world, reaching heights of thirty feet and providing immense quantities of food for the locusts' journeys," Jeffrey Lockwood, a locust researcher, explained. Local experts in Kashkadarya say that the recent invasion is a consequence of wet spring weather and the fact that the Turkmen government is reportedly doing little to eradicate the insects in their breeding sites. "In Turkmenistan, meadows are not cultivated and they are indifferent to the problem of those parasites there," Jurayev claimed. "We could destroy them in time if they were on our territory when they are so small." Salimkuzi Khudaikulov, chairman of the Erkin Erdonayev farm, said that he warned the authorities before the locusts arrived but they failed to respond. "I alerted the local authorities, the district community about the plant protection in advance but they have not taken any measures against the problem," he claimed.