ALMATY , 10 June 2007 (IRIN) - Kyrgyzstan has staved off the worst of a locust infestation in the south of the country, officials say, but challenges remain as other regions brace for invasions of the crop-eating pests.

Locusts are a major current threat to Kyrgyzstan's agriculture sector, which accounts for about one third of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 50 per cent of employment. Officials say this is the peak of a 10-12 year cycle for Moroccan locusts plaguing Kyrgyzstan and other parts of Central Asia.

"It started last year, and this year is the peak," Marat Beksultanov, head of the agriculture ministry's department for the chemical treatment, protection and quarantine of plants, told IRIN from Bishkek.

The peak of the cycle coincided with warm weather favourable to locusts, according to an official in Jalal-Abad, the worst hit region with 51,000 hectares of land invaded by locusts. "Favourable conditions [for locusts] are a dry, very warm, sunny spring and a winter that is not cold," Niyazmamat Bekov, head of the regional Agrarian Development Department, told IRIN from Jalal-Abad.

Only 1,000 hectares remain to be treated there as an anti-locust operation comes to an end on 20 June. The full extent of crop damage is yet to be established but is expected to be minimal, partly because the anti-locust operation began early – on 5 April - allowing young hoppers to be killed before they matured.

This year better than last

This year's efforts to control locusts have far outstripped last year's when 28 hectares of land were ruined in Jalal-Abad's first serious locust infestation in 30 years. "The situation is very much under control," Bekov said. "Last year it was very hard to fight."

In Batken region - where locusts infested over 19,000 hectares of land at a rate of 10-35 pests per square metre - some 18,000 hectares of land has been sprayed with pesticides to date. In neighbouring Osh region, 2,000 hectares have been treated.

While officials report successes in fighting the locust invasion, anticipating less damage than last year, the scale of this year's infestation is greater. Some 72,000 hectares of land has been identified for spraying to date, most of which has been treated. With locust invasions – albeit less severe - predicted in central Naryn and northern Chu regions (5,000-10,000 hectares), the total area requiring treatment is expected to exceed last year's 74,500 hectares and forecasts for this year amounting to 65,000 hectares of land requiring spraying.

The Kyrgyz government is seeking an extra US $220,000 to meet spraying requirements this year, to add to the $340,000 already allocated up to the end of June. In 2006, the government spent $550,000 fighting locusts.

Specialists say the lack of a formal regional mechanism to coordinate efforts to combat locusts across Central Asia and Afghanistan is hampering eradication efforts. A UN Food an Agriculture Organization-sponsored initiative to set up a Regional Locust Coordination Body, which has been on the table since 2004, has not so far borne fruit.

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