The chairman of agriculture office in Bushehr province says that in the most optimistic scenario, the locusts that have attacked six southern provinces of Iran will remain in the area for at least 4 years.

Manuchehri emphasized on appropriate planning to fight the locusts. The locusts which arrived in the country from the Arabian Peninsula, have also spread to some areas in Fars, Kerman, Khuzestan, and Sistan & Baluchistan provinces.

Mohammad Reza Dargahi, chairman of Plant Protection Organization stated that this quantity of locusts attacking farmlands are unprecedented in the past 40 years. He mentioned that in 1961, locusts destroyed over 2.5 million hectares of farmlands.

According to Dargahi, there are 200 thousand hectares of farmlands currently in danger, but preventive measures against locusts have only been taken for 38 thousand hectares. The Plant Protection Organization criticized the authorities ignoring the issue and warned about the increase in the number of the desert locusts and the danger of food shortage.

Dargahi said it is the government’s responsibility to fight against the locust infestation and emphasized that the necessary funds must be allocated in the six southern provinces in order to fight the locust swarm.

According to one official, the Plant Protection Organization demanded 12 billion tomans in funds from the Crisis Management office and only 10 billion was approved, but the Plant Protection Organization has not received any funds yet to start the operation. The chairman of the Plant Protection Organization estimated that 125 thousand billion tomans in agricultural products are at risk, which makes the 12 billion tomans demanded an insignificant amount in comparison.