Weak plant protection mechanism, climate changes and new diseases are bringing annual loss of billions of dollars to the country , said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan.

Weak plant protection mechanism, climate changes and new diseases are bringing annual loss of billions of dollars to the country , said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. He was addressing annual function of Department of Entomology, UAF. Department Chairman Prof Dr Jalal Arif also spoke the occasion. The Vice Chancellor said that only fruitfly is causing $200 million annual loss to the country and termed it a serious threat to export of fruits and vegetables. He said contamination with pesticide residue and toxicants were resulting in rejection of agricultural export. He said that modern practices like integrated pest management must be promoted and practiced in the fields in order to reduce the hazardous usage of pesticides. He said that plant protection measures help increase per hectare yield by protecting the crops from diseases and controlling the pests. He lauded the steps being taken on the part of the Department of Entomology to overcome the various diseases in the country. He said that the Department was mapping national plan on fruit fly, palm weevil and wheat aphid. He hoped that the experts would come up with solution to issue that will be made national address to increase its productivity. Talking about wheat aphid, he said that the aphid attack had become common in many districts of the Punjab. He said a state-of-the-art insect identification museum would be established 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 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 160 UAF community has been sent abroad for higher studies in the last eight years. He said that each scholarship costs 15 million rupees. Department of Entomology Chairman Prof Dr Jalal Arif said three working groups on fruit fly, palm weevil and wheat aphid had been set up. He said the department was running the Research &Development projects worth 100 million rupees under the leadership of Vice Chancellor. He said that they had developed a protocol for the Maximum Residue Limit for the registration of pesticides. He added that they were creating the skills among the students to become self employed with their innovative ideas rather than looking at the jobs. He said that under the leadership of Vice Chancellor, vision 2030 had been developed under which academia, research and internship programs had been strengthened. Dr Mansoor Sahi. Dr Waseem Akram, Dr Sohail, Dr Muhammad Farooq and Dr Rahid Rasul also spoke on the occasion.