FAISALABAD: The locust has become a second largest threat to Pakistan after Covid-19 as about 38 per cent of total agricultural area has become its breeding ground.

This was stated by University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ashraf while he was briefing Secretary Higher Education Department Punjab, Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghuman on Friday.

Dr Ashraf saidlocust had emerged as one of the largest threats for the agriculture sector. He said being an agrarian country, we have to step up our efforts to fight such challenges and increase per acre productivity.

He said scientists across the country should make efforts on vector management to fight the vector-borne diseases including dengue. He saidlocust had emerged as the second largest threat for the country after Covid 19. He said according to the FAO,38 per cent of the total agricultural area in Pakistan had become the breeding ground for the desert locust.

He said the government had set up a consortium of the agricultural universities, Food Security Ministry, Agriculture Department, the NDMA and PDMA to work jointly on the locust.

He said the UAF had designed a new sprayer for locust that could use the spray-solution up to 50 feet high.

“We have alsorecently set up a full-fledged locust control centre,” he added.

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

The secretary said agriculture scientists should come up with the viable solutions to fight locust attack that is playing havoc with the food security of the country.

Commissioner Ishrat Ali said the university should provide a training to use digital resources in order to make our research work on par with international standards.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020