TEHRAN – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Forests, Rangelands, and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) of Iran inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sunday to eradicate sand and dust storm (SDS) hotspots in the country.

Iran is one of six countries partnering in the FAO international coalition to strengthen coordinated action on sand and dust storms.

The project is to be funded by the FAO in three dust hotspots in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, China, Mongolia, and Algeria in West Asia, North China, and North Africa with the aim of investing in dust control for productivity in the agriculture sector.

Developing a comprehensive executive plan in these countries and identifying the international and national resources are important outcomes on the agenda of the technical cooperation project.

The cooperation document was signed by FRWO director Massoud Mansour, and FAO representative in Iran Gerold Boedeker, the FRWO website reported.

FAO earlier has helped Iran to establish a country-specific agricultural drought monitoring system, enabling the national authorities to detect periods of water stress and forecast crop yields more accurately in the Lake Urmia basin.

Moreover, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has provided an additional $200,000 to further strengthen Iran’s technical capacity to control Desert Locust.

Signed by FAO and Iran’s Plant Protection Organization (PPO) on March 19, the $300,000 Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) “Urgent action for capacity building to control desert locust infestation in Iran”, now totals $500,000.

FAO is the lead UN agency dedicated to increasing the resilience of agricultural livelihoods and food systems and supports its member countries in their efforts to develop and establish agricultural early warning early action systems.

FB/MG