Overview
- Huge swarms of locusts have formed in the Kizlyar district of Dagestan, filling the air, reducing visibility and sweeping across roads and farmland.
- Dagestan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food has mounted aerial and ground spraying operations to tackle the swarms once they move onto treated land.
- Control is delayed and constrained because many swarms originate inside protected nature reserves where chemical treatment is legally prohibited, leaving fields exposed while insects continue to emerge.
- Officials warned earlier this year after May inspections found hatching locusts, and the FAO has urged cross‑border cooperation and the use of unmanned aerial systems to limit spread and damage.
- Asian locusts can shift from solitary insects into vast, mobile swarms that rapidly strip vegetation, which raises immediate crop loss risks for local farmers and broader food‑security concerns across the Caucasus and Central Asia.