He chaired a meeting of Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad at the department’s meeting room. He said that the university was making all possible measurers to develop the demand driven research work especially to the address the problems of the agriculture sector. He was of the view that the agriculture sector in the country was under the grip of the different challenges including low productivity, non certified seed issue, post harvest losses, lack of mechanization, climate changes and others for which we have to take the measures to ensure the food security of the country. He called for strengthening academia industry linkages that will prove a milestone to develop knowledge based economy. He said that agriculture was the backbone of the economy which was contributing 19 percent to the Gross Domestic Product. Entomology Chairman Dr Sohail Ahmad said that we have to jack up the per acre agriculture productivity in a bid to meet the demand of ever increasing populations., He called for learning from other nations experiences also . He said that no nation can make the development without effective research and development (R&D) activities. He stressed the need to train the farming community about the latest trends in agriculture sector. Prof Dr Jalal Arif said that we have to come up viable solutions to address the agricultural challenges. He said that Integrated Pest Management approved by National Assembly provides safe pesticides as it is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage with different techniques including biological control, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant variety. He said that in 80s, pesticides companies were giving advisory to the farming community . But they had stopped the practices for the last ten years. He said that due to many challenges , the agriculture could not remain a profitable profession. For which, we have to use the integrational approach by involving the all stakeholders. Rashid Ahmad Executive Director from Crop Life Pakistan Association said that they developed and distributed crop protection and biotech products including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and seed. He said that they advocated and promoted the responsible use of safe and environmental friendly pesticides. He said that they are deeply concerned about the cotton, maize and rice crop losses in certain parts of Punjab. He said that they fully understand the challenge faced by hardworking farmers and remain committed to serve them. He said that an exceptional shift in climatic conditions at a critical phase (pollination) of the crop has impacted the yields across the province. Agricultural experts Sarwar Rahi, Amir Bashir, Prof Dr Waseem Akram, Prof M Shahzad Basra, Dr Muhammad Arshad, Dr Dildar Googi, and other notables also attended the meeting.