Agri scientists asked to come up with viable solutions to fight locust attack

FAISALABAD: Punjab Higher Education Department Secretary Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghumman has said that agriculture scientists should come up with the viable solutions to fight locust attack that is playing havoc with the food security of the country.

He said this while visiting Faisalabad on the directions of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Bazdar here on Friday. The secretary visited the University of Agriculture Faisalabad and called on UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ashraf, Commissioner Ishrat Ali and agricultural experts of Entomology Department, including Dr Jalal Arif, Dr Waseem Akram, Dr Amir Rasool and Dr Saghir, attended the meeting.

He said that locust had emerged the one of the largest threat to the agriculture sector. He said that being an agrarian country, we had to pace up our efforts to fight such challenges and increase per acre production. He said that scientists from life science across the country should make the collaborated efforts on vector management to fight the vector borne diseases, including dengue. Dr Muhammad Ashraf said locust had emerged the second largest threat to the country after Covid-19.

He said that according to the FAO, as many as 38 per cent of the total agricultural area in Pakistan had become the breeding grounds for the desert locust. He said that the government had set up a consortium of the agricultural universities, Food Security Ministry, Agriculture Department NDMA and PDMA others to work jointly on the locust. He said that the UAF had designed a new sprayer for locust that could spell the spray-solution up to 50 feet high. He said that the UAF had recently set up a full-fledged research related to locust control centre.

He suggested a mechanism should be evolved at provincial level for identifying the research thesis topic to avoid overlapping.

Commissioner Ishrat Ali said that the university should provide a training to use digital resources in order to make our research work at par with international standards. He said that we had to conduct the problem solving research for the industry.

Meanwhile, the secretary also met Commissioner Ishrat Ali at his office. He took detailed briefing on Ehsaas Programme, anti-corona and anti-dengue campaigns in the district besides reviewing the wheat procurement campaign and implementation on price control mechanism.

The commissioner apprised the Higher Education secretary of the district administration’s anti-dengue and anti-corona measures and said that the most effective measures were being taken for the protection of the citizens. He informed about the implementation on price control mechanism in the month of the Ramazan.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Finance Asma Ijaz Cheema, Assistant Commissioner City Syed Ayub Bukhari and other officers were present. Later, the Higher Education secretary went to the GCU New campus and visited quarantine centre there and checked the arrangements for the people. The ADCF briefed on the medical treatment of corona patients at Government General Hospital Ghulam Muhammadabad. The Punjab secretary appreciated the steps taken to alleviate the fears of corona virus and said that implementation on the SOPs of the Health Department should be ensured to control the outbreak of corona virus. He also checked the accommodation of quarantine passengers.

The Punjab secretary called for further intensification of anti-dengue measures and said that surveillance activities should be made fruitful in this regard.