Photo: FAO/Irakli Rusishvili

In collaboration with the National Food Agency (NFA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted a regional demonstration trial on the use of biopesticides against locusts in Kakheti, Georgia, in June 2023. The event tested and showcased the efficiency of bio-pesticides, highlighting the key role they should play in anti-locust campaigns respectful of human health and the environment. A total of 32 persons participated, from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as from Uzbekistan and from Sardinia, Italy, in addition to representatives from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and FAO as well as Micron.

The four-day demonstration was organized in the framework of the FAO “Programme to improve national and regional locust management in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA)”, with USAID financial assistance. The Programme aims to reduce the occurrence and intensity of locust outbreaks in CCA, thus limiting threats or damage to crops and rangelands and safeguarding the rural population's food security and livelihoods. To that end, it focuses on developing regional cooperation and strengthening national capacities, including for pesticide risk reduction.

The demonstration included presentations on the use of biopesticides in locust control, field application against hoppers of Italian Locust (CIT) with Metarhizium acridum, a highly specific fungus affecting locusts only, as well as assessment of locust mortality and of the absence of impact on non-target organisms, such as bees and other arthropods.

„So far locusts have been treated by chemicals in the region. The FAO Locust Programme in CCA is currently giving a high priority to the promotion of biopesticides in locust control, as part of the preventive control strategy, as they have no impact on human health and the environment.’’ said Marion Chiris, Locust Programme Officer at FAO.

“It is very important to test and explore the efficiency of biopesticides while fighting to reduce locust outbreaks; this is particularly crucial for the purposes of using it at such places as the protected areas or the lands where bio farms are run,” said Shavlego Noniadze, the head of Plant Protection Department at the NFA.

The demonstration trial in Kakheti had been preceded by a similar event organized to the benefit of Central Asian countries in April 2023, in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan. The two demonstration trials during the 2023 campaign should allow collection of valuable data on the use of biopesticides against the Moroccan and the Italian Locusts and advocate for their future use, with a view to reducing the negative impact of locust treatments on human health and the environment.