India sends pesticides to Afghanistan to ensure food security

New Delhi: In an outreach to the government in Kabul, India has sent 40,000 litres of Malathion, a pesticide, to Afghanistan through Iran's Chabahar port.

The pesticide is used to fight the locust menace. Malathion is an environment-friendly pesticide and best suited for arid regions. The Indian assistance will ensure food security in Afghanistan and Central Asia, according to the Afghan ministry of agriculture and irrigation. The Afghan ministry expressed its gratitude towards India and said that the assistance will assist to fight locusts within the country and prevents those coming from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.


India has been continuing its humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan, ranging from the supply of wheat to cope with an unprecedented food shortage to the provision of materials for drug rehabilitation camps run by the UN. The Indian government has partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme for the internal distribution of wheat within Afghanistan.

Under this partnership, India has supplied 47,500 metric tonnes of wheat as assistance to UNWFP centres in Afghanistan.