FAO in its 2020 report feared that locust attacks would cause severe damage to Rabi and Kharif crops in Pakistan.
Tando Jam: The locust is still a threat in Sindh, which in the recent past, have damaged crops, orchards and vegetables on more than 200, 000 acres in most districts of the province causing huge financial loss to the farmers.
This was stated at a one-day training workshop hosted by Sindh Agriculture University in collaboration with Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) at the Faculty of Crop Protection on Thursday.
Addressing the inaugural session of training workshop on locust prevention, Dr. Jan Mohammad Marri, Dean, Crop Protection Faculty, said that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) feared in its report that locust attacks would cause severe damage to Rabi and Kharif crops in Pakistan. The report released in May 2020 revealed that locust attacks can cost the country a total of four billion dollars.
He said that farmers of developing countries are adopting environment-friendly methods to prevent attacks of locust and other diseases and destroy harmful pests through technology. “Through this training workshop participants will learn advanced information about locust and will be able to guide farmers in their areas on how to prevent locust attacks,” he said.
Abdul Jabbar Bhatti of SRSO said that the members of his organization are helping the poor people in the backward districts of Sindh who are suffering from various problems including locust and other disease. “This training workshop is fruitful for our team to deal with locust attacks”.
He said that technical assistance was required from the experts of Sindh Agriculture University in this regard, who have given very good guidance through training today.
On the occasion, the experts of Plant Protection, Sindh Agriculture University Prof. Dr. Imran Khatri and Aftab Jarwar trained the participants regarding preventing the growth of locust and how to protect the crops from possible attacks and damage.
Social workers from Badin, Sukkur, Mirpur Khas and Hyderabad participated in this training workshop. (PR)
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