- Follow ups to the locust situation in
Tajikistan
Mr. Voris Madaminov, Minister of Agriculture briefed the participants
about the problems related with the Morocco type locust in the country.
Mr. Madaminov reported that a total of 40,000 hectares of land have been
affected, out of which only 12,000 hectares have so far been treated by the
available pesticides. 3,000 hectares of cotton and fruit lands have been fully
damaged, and another 3,000 hectares partly.
Affected districts, as reported by Minister, are:
-
Zafarobod, Jabor Rasulov, Matchohi Kuhi and Asht
districts in Sughd Oblast;
-
Khuroson, Nosiri Khusrav, Kabodion, Shaartuz, Pyanj,
Kumsangir, Kolkhozobod and Vakhsh districts in Khatlon Oblast;
-
Rudaki, Varzob, Tursunzoda, Shahrinav and Gissar
districts of RRP.
There is a specific department within the Ministry of Agriculture named
?State company for protection of plants?, which is usually dealing with these
type of problems. But due to lack of specific equipment (GRB Generators) and
chemicals (Detametrin, Fatak, Barier, etc.) the ministry is facing problems in
tackling with this issue alone. Mr. Madaminov noted that lack of prevention of
this problem will result in decreased production of crops, vegetables and
fruits.
Mr. Madaminov continued by saying that 1 female locust can lay 150 eggs,
which will cause bigger problems next year, if not treated today. In the south,
the locust has been traveling in from Afghanistan,
whereas in the west and northern districts the locust has been reported to be
flying in from Uzbekistan.
WFP noted that Food for Education is available in some of these
locations, which can be used for distribution when necessary. In order to do
this, WFP requested to have a list of all affected locations in order to make
assessments.
Mr. Ronald Dijk, UN FAO informed that FAO had a project on combating
locust for 2 years, 2003-2005 during which some equipment and chemicals were
donated to the Ministry of Agriculture. Mr. Dijk requested from the Ministry of
Agriculture a table with an overview of specific equipment and chemicals
required. Minister Madaminov confirmed
that the project implemented with FAO was quite successful. He commented that
thanks to this project the ministry managed to treat 12,000 hectares of
affected land. Mr. Madaminov agreed to provide the necessary information for
any interested organizations. Focal Point within the Ministry of Agriculture is
Mr. Rasuli, telephone: 221 89 05.
The letter from the Ministry of Agriculture to MoES regarding this issue
can be found by clicking here.
3.
Presentation
on Forecasted floods in Hamadoni district and the state of preparedness. Mr. Shomahmadov, Head of Information
Management and Analytical
Center (IMAC, alisho.shomahmadov@mchs.org)
made a presentation on the recent flood forecasting assessment made by MoES,
Tojikkoinot and Glavgeology. These specialist agencies reviewed the data and
prepared a map showing the hydrodynamics of the
river covering the period 1959 to 2005. Results of these assessments shows that
the Pyanj River will be again above usual level
starting from July this year. For this purpose an appeal
had been sent from MoES to the Government requesting attention on this
matter. MoES has also prepared a list of most
vulnerable villages to be evacuated in case of floods, including a
calculation on necessary transportation, fuel, shelter (tents) and food needs.
4.
Workshop
on Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment. Mr. Sharif Sharifov informed
the participants about this workshop, which will be organized in Dushanbe 19-23 June 2006
by CARE. He noted that 18 participants have been registered. There total of 22
seats available. Ms. Takhmina Niyazova from Oxfam informed about the International
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, to be held in Dushanbe 28-30 June 2006. On the third day of
the workshop, there will be disaster response exercise organized in Gissar
District. The workshop will be organized by MoES, with support from ECHO, Oxfam,
FOCUS and UN DRMP.
- Introduction to JICA Environmental and
Social Consideration guidelines
Mr. Shokohifard presented the JICA guidelines on Environmental and Social Considerations and their application in
Hamadoni district, where JICA is implementing Natural Disaster Prevention in Pyanj River.
Following the seven main principals outlined in these guidelines, the recipient
governments are encouraged to consider the environmental issues into decision
making processes of development activities supported by Japanese Government.
The guidelines also outline the responsibility of JICA, as well as requirements
for recipient government to facilitate realization of tasks undertaken by JICA.
- National Platform
Mr.
Sharifov, UN DRMP informed the meeting participants that MoES has officially requested
UN ISDR with assistance to establish a National Platform in Tajikistan. UN
ISDR has already initiated the process with inviting a specialist for initial
assessment.
- Sectoral Groups update
The last sectoral meeting on WES/Education took place in UNICEF on
26 May 2006. The minutes can be found by clicking here.
UNICEF has succeeded to collect data from almost all partners of WES/Education
sectoral group for IACP. The sectoral group is now working on the narrative
part of the IACP.
Mr. Belliappa informed that WFP has about 7,000 tons of food available in
the country for current programmes. He mentioned that another 12,000 tons will
be arriving before the end of 2006. In order to plan the first food aid sector meeting
and further agree upon roles and responsibilities during an emergency, REACT
partners dealing with food aid , such as CADA, CARE, Counterpart
CHAP, Global Partners, and others, need to contact Mr. Belliappa Kodendera, WFP at: belliappa.kodendera@wfp.org
- News from REACT partners (attached)
- Any other business
Mr. Zafar Teshaev,
ECHO informed that following the DIPECHO evaluation, another REACT meeting will
be called to present the outcomes of the evaluation.
Mr. Azamat
Hasanov, ECHO informed about a new DIPECHO poster, which includes the new ECHO
logo.
You may email your
suggestions for the agenda and information on the upcoming news for the monthly
bulletin to ole.ramsing@undp.org
