Locusts crisis: India sends 20,000 litres of pesticide to Iran

India has dispatched 20,000 litres of pesticide "Malathion 96% ULV” to Iran as part of ongoing cooperation to help Iran deal with the locusts' crisis. A 40 feet container carrying the pesticide consignment is scheduled to arrive next week at Chabahar port.

Sources at the Indian Embassy in Tehran said that the "Indian Mission has been in touch with the Plant Protection Organization (PPO) under Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture to discuss cooperative efforts to arrest the spread of desert locusts to Iran and their further movement eastwards to Pakistan and India."

Iran has warmly welcomed this offer of assistance from India.

While Iran faces locust infestation every year, this year, about one million hectares of land is expected to be swarmed by locusts in 10 provinces across Iran.

The South-East province of Sistan & Baluchestan, bordering Pakistan and the southern Hormozgan province is expected to be the worst affected regions of the West Asian country. Malathion 96% ULV does not require much water and is, therefore, appropriate for Sistan-Baluchistan where water is scarce.

Iran does not produce this type of pesticide and is dependent on imports from India and China.