Combating locust attacks: 25 UAF students to guide farmers

FAISALABAD: Some 25 postgraduate students of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) will visit different areas of the country to guide farmers as how to combat locust attacks.

National Food Security Secretary Omar Hamid Khan stated this while addressing an inaugural session of training workshop to combat locust attacks for interns.

The workshop was jointly arranged by the Ministry and UAF at the Syndicate Room. Omar said the Ministry will send 10 UAF students to Balochistan and the rest of them to Tharparkar and Cholistan under the Locust Combat Program. He said a national locust control centre has been set up in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority in order to eradicate the locusts by mapping out a fruitful strategy.

He was of the view that six aircraft will be made a part of field work on the locust control. He said that the tangible measures were being taken to control the locust on the part of the government. He said the collaboration of educational institutions will bring miracle change and help overcome the challenges facing the agriculture sector especially locust attack. He appreciated the measures taken on the part of the UAF for the locust control programme.

He said the agriculture sector was contributing 19 percent to the Gross Domestic Product. The federal government is coordinating with the provinces to improve the agriculture situation and convert it as a profitable business. UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ashraf said the varsity has set up a locust research cell under which work was being carried out on war footing. He said locust had become the largest threat for food security. DG Plant Protection Falak Naz, UAF Registrar Umar Saeed, Chairman Entomology UAF Dr Masnsoorul Hassan, Dr Jalal Arif, Dr Sohail, Dr Amir Rasul, Dr Sagheer and Dr Shahid Majeed also attended the meeting.