Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani (centre), Assistant Under-Secretary of Agriculture Affairs, Livestock and Fisheries at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, attending the workshop on developing a national system for monitoring and combatting
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) in coordination with the authorities concerned carried out control operation successfully against desert locusts which hit Qatar a couple weeks ago.
“We came to know two months ago that desert locusts were expected to arrive Qatar. We made necessary preparations to combat it,” said Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Under-Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.
Sheikh Dr Faleh was speaking to the media person on the sidelines of a workshop on developing a national system for monitoring and combating desert locusts, held at the headquarters of the Ministry yesterday.
The workshop was organised by the Agricultural Affairs Department at MME in cooperation with the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani said that the Ministry was fully ready to combat the locusts but this time, large number of locusts came breaking record of about 30 years.
“We combated the locusts successfully in Qatar. Since they were in large numbers some countries which do not have enough resources and capacity to combat might face problems especially the breeding countries like Somalia, Yemen where locusts are born,” said Sheikh Dr Faleh.
He said that Qatar is the transit country for locusts not a breeding country. “But we have agricultural crops, plants and green areas, which should be protected from any damage by locusts. And comparing to breeding countries, Qatar received less number of locusts,” he added. He said that locusts are decomposed into organic fertiliser within three days, after spraying pesticides without any impact on environment. All necessary equipment and pesticides are available and workers are being trained to keep them update about the latest technique of combating locusts. Dr. Munir Jabra Boutros Abdel Malek, Advisor at the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region of FAO gave a presentation on the situation of desert locust in Horn of Africa and neighbrouring countries.
Dr. Munir highlighted the preparations made by the State of Qatar to control the current situation through the preparation of an emergency plan for rapid intervention against locusts, and cooperation with relevant authorities, as well as setting up a program to qualify cadres working to combat locusts in all sectors of the state.
The workshop was organised in light of the recent arrival of desert locust swarms which spread in a number of areas of the country. The Agricultural Affairs Department, in cooperation with its strategic partners in this regard, quickly took the necessary measures to limit the spread of locusts according to its action plan.
