Under Government-to-Government initiative for Locust Control Programme, HIL (India), a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and one of the leading manufacturer of insecticides in India has supplied 25 MT Malathion 95% ULV to Iran.
India had recently approached Iran and Pakistan for coordinated response to counter desert locust menace in the region. Iran had expressed its willingness to the proposal and accordingly Ministry of External Affairs placed an order with HIL (India) to manufacture and supply 25 MT of Malathion 95% ULV to Iran.
As per the reports of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the hopper stage population of locust is building up in Sistan-Baluchistan Region of Iran, which shall migrate to India in coming months leading to further crop devastation. Government of India has taken an initiative to counter the locust menace at its breeding ground itself and approached Iran for coordinated efforts.
Desert Locust after severe crop devastation in Horn of Africa, East Africa and Arabian Peninsula has entered into India in March-April 2020 and it has affected the field crop, horticulture crops and other plantations in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The country is experiencing worst locust invasion, which was last observed more than 25 years back.
HIL (India) is also supplying Malathion 95% ULV to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Locust Control Programme in the country. Since 2019, the PSU has supplied more than 600 MT of Malathion 95% ULV for this programme.
