Experts suggest integrated pest management

Fall armyworm damaging crops, causing farmers huge losses

FAISALABAD:

Agricultural experts have stressed the need for adopting integrated management techniques to overcome the fall armyworm, which is damaging crops and causing colossal economic losses.

They were speaking at a workshop titled “Fall Armyworm”, organised by the Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) on Monday.

At the event, UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Asif Tanveer pointed out that the agriculture sector was facing several challenges including low productivity, invasive pest amid climate change, excessive use of pesticides, decreasing fertility and others.

“We are using our resources irrationally, which is a matter of grave concern,” he said. “Excessive pumping is lowering the groundwater level, which poses a serious threat to the agriculture sector.”

He stressed that strong academia-industry and farming community linkages would pave the way for addressing agriculture sector problems.

Tanveer added that valuable research and development work was direly required to tackle the fall armyworm.

According to him, integrated pest management techniques including chemical and biological control, and crop rotations should be applied to combat the insect attacks. He called for developing comprehensive strategies to combat the pest at the initial stage so that it could be dealt with and eradicated effectively.

Department of Entomology Chairman Dr Sohail Ahmad highlighted that no nation could progress without effective research and development activities. “We have surveyed infected areas and now we will train farmers in overcoming the challenge,” he said. UAF Professor Dr Amer Rasul said fall armyworm attacks started from the US and expanded to India in 2018. It attacked Pakistan in 2019 and this year, he said.

Agriculture Extension Faisalabad Director Abdul Hameed said fall armyworm had been invading crops in the country for the past two years. According to him, it is the need of the hour to educate the farming community so that it could be eradicated in a better way.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2020.

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