Agricultural sustainability in Pakistan faces huge challenges, only multi-party cooperation should be our bright future. In order to improve this situation as soon as possible, all levels of Pakistan are cooperating with China to accelerate the development of biological control measures, said Abid Ali, Associate Professor of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) during an exclusive interview with Gwadar Pro.Some sugarcane growers have introduced Trichogramma species, and local governments have adopted the method of releasing lacewing egg cards to prey on sucking insect pests in order to protect the cotton industry.
According to Ali, the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the UAF jointly established a laboratory to cooperate in the sustainable pest management of major crops such as corn, cotton, and locusts, including personnel training, international student exchanges, etc., to study in depth the green plant protection technology (biopesticides such as pheromones, botanicals and toxins) that IPPCAAS is good at.
China and Pakistan are both countries with complex ecosystems and rich species. And both being major agricultural producers, the impact of climate change is closely related to bilateral future. “Climate change always disrupt pest and disease control systems,” Ali points out, “temperature fluctuations lead to increased reproduction and spread of pests, and rising carbon dioxide concentrations are also likely to allow pathogens such as fungi to spread faster.
