At a central operational headquarters meeting to counteract the spread of locusts, Vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin received new reports on projected risks to the region.
Alarmed by the forecast, Zhumangarin announced, “We have never before faced such a wide spanning infestation of locusts and must not underestimate the possible consequences. I instruct the Committee of State Inspection of the Ministry of Agriculture to immediately finalize all procedural issues and send necessary equipment to the regions where it is needed. In the hot season, as a precaution, we will switch to meetings at the headquarters twice a week”
The government reported that 260,000 hectares had already been treated in the Turkestan Oblast, but thereafter, the areas affected by locusts had spread to an additional 50,000 hectares. Treatment is therefore being extended to the districts of Arys City, Saryagash, Keles, Ordabasinsk, and Shardara. According to forecasts, the largest invasion of locusts is expected in the regions of Kostanay and Aktobe.
“Locusts have always been with us, from the time of dinosaurs and mammoths. We have always and will continue, to battle them,” stated Zhumangarin.
He then said that whilst locusts are regarded as halal and some countries have learned to harvest them as a source of great protein food, that’s not us, I guess!”
