: Center for Excellence on Whitefly and pink bollworm will be established at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad to overcome the pests that are incurring the loss of billions of rupees to national economy.

It was discussed on Saturday at cheaque handing-over ceremony of Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) to Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) on two projects over the management of whitefly and pink boll worth 75 million.

PARB Chief Executive Officer Dr Noor-ul-Islam Khan presented the initial funding cheaque of Rs 12.5 million to University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar. Whereas, Chairman Entomology and project manager Dr Jalal Arif, , UAF Director Research Dr Zahir A Zahir, Dr Mansoor Sahi, Dr Dildar Gogi, Dr Muhammad Arshad, Dr Ahmad Nawaz Nawaz, and Dr Abid Ali attended the ceremony.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar if the issue of PBW and whitefly was not overcome, it would not only dent our agricultural production but also become responsible for the loss of billion of rupees . He said modern practices must be promoted and practiced in the fields to fight the attack of different insect on the different crops. He said that modern seed can double cotton production with the benefit of Rs 300 billion to the national economy. He praised the measures of Punjab government for the uplift of the sector and to promote the modern techniques and practices.

He lauded the Entomology Department for conducting a survey on the directives of Punjab Government in the cotton belt on pink bollworm and whitefly. He said the scientists of the Department are working round the clock on the different pests.

Dr Noor-ul Islam said it is need of the hour to identity breeding places in the odd season so that the attack can be minimized. He added that plant protection measures helped increase per hectare yield by protecting crops from diseases and controlling the pests. He stressed upon the need to promote modern trend to fight the insects in the field. He said that the social benefit of the projects include the emolument generation, environment protection and improvement in food quality.

Prof. Dr. Jalal Arif said that after the debacle in the cotton production two years ago, the university conducted the survey of cotton across the province and developed a report on it as per directives of the government. He said that the projects will help yield improvement, increase in export, decrease in import , improvement in input use efficiency and etc. He said that 28 PhDs students of the department had completed part of their research in different countries with the HEC funding. Prof. Dr Mansoor Sahi said that agriculture was the backbone of our economy that was directly linked to poverty alleviation.