Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences Wuhan China and Department of Entomology University of Agriculture Faisalabad will collaborate in academia and research with a special focus on pink bollworm that was responsible for a loss of 4 million cotton bales annually in Pakistan. It was agreed upon at a meeting of Chinese scientists Cong Shengbo and Wang Ling with UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar. Chairman Entomology Dr Jalal Arif, Dr Mansoor Sahi, Dr Sohail, Dr Waseem Akram, Dr Zain ul Abidin, Dr Shafqat Saeed, Dr Arsad Shakeel, Dr Muhammad Arshad, Dr Dildar Googi, Dr Waqas Wakeel, Dr Ahmad Nawaz, Dr Abid Ali and others attended the meeting.
Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar said the collaborated efforts will bring the tangible results. He said that the issue was not only reducing our production but also inflicted the national economy worth billions of rupees. He called for identifying the cause and best methods to overcome the issue. He views that plant protection measures helped increase per hectare yield by protecting crops from diseases and controlling the pests. He said that all the stakeholders have to play their role in the development of the country.
Dr Jalal Arif said under the Punjab Agricultural Research Board, UAF was working on two projects on pink bollworm and whitefly in collaboration with Ayub Research Faisalabad, Cotton Research Institute Multan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Agriculture University Multan, Nuclear Institute for Biology, Central Cotton Research Institute and NIBGE. He said that only pink bollworm was reducing the production up to 4 billion bales of cotton in Pakistan. He hoped that that the joint efforts will help yield improvement. He said that rearing of the pink bollworm is a real issue for research purpose. He said that in 2015, the cotton had been facing a huge crises.
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