The Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad will map out a comprehensive national plan to fight fruit fly, bringing $200 million annual loss to the country.

The Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad will map out a comprehensive national plan to fight fruit fly, bringing $200 million annual loss to the country. This was decided at meeting of entomologists which was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan at the faculty room of the department. UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmed said fruit fly was a serious threat to export of fruits and vegetables and causing a loss of billions of rupees. He said contamination with pesticide residue and toxicants were resulting in rejection of agricultural export. He said that the situation demands effective policy to curb the disease to increase the productivity and quality as well. He said 11 species of fruit fly has been reportedly, resulting of loss in Pakistan. Talking about palm weevil, he directed the scientists to develop national action plan on the palm weevil which is damaging the dates production heavily. He said that red weevil bores into the leaf bases at the top of trunk, causing the entire crown to wither or die. He hoped that the experts would come up with solution to issue that will be made national address to increase its productivity. Talking about the wheat aphid, he said that the aphid attack had become common in many districts of the Punjab. He also announced that a state-of-the-art insect identification museum would be set up at the Old Campus of the varsity in order to highlight the issues and to provide a platform to the scientists and farming community to interact. He said that the wheat aphid requires proactive measures and multi-pronged control strategy to save the staple food grain. He appreciated the efforts being made on the part of the Department of Entomology in term of the quality research, trained and competent staff and quality of education. Department of Entomology Chairman Prof Dr Jalal Arif said that the department was an active member of the government dengue programme and making all-out efforts to address the issue at the national level in term of research and awareness activities. He said that three working groups on fruit fly, palm weevil and wheat aphid had been set up which would come up with the viable solution to the issue. He said the department was running the R&D project worth 90 million. He said that they had developed a protocol for the Maximum Residue Limit for the registration of pesticides. He said that all the faculty members remain busy in the odds hours also for the cause of quality research and to address the issues of the farming community.