HYDERABAD:The management of Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sindh Rural Support Organization regarding community training to deal with desert locust and other disasters in three districts of the province.
According to university spokesman, the Dean of the Faculty Prof. Dr. Jan Mohammad Marri Project Manager SRSO Akram Sheikh signed the MoU at a ceremony on Monday which followed an awareness workshop on “Building resilient communities by connecting disaster and emergency response to sustainable development” held at the Crop Protection Faculty of Sindh Agricultural University.
The participants of the workshop were informed that this training will be organized with the support of Action against Hunger and Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA).
Addressing the workshop and field staff on the occasion, Dean Prof. Dr. Jan Mohammad Marri said the locust attacks are still a threat in Sindh, which in the past had caused damages to standing crops, orchards, vegetables on more than 200,000 acres in most districts of the province resulting to financial losses to farmers, therefore modern methods of locust eradication are needed to save crops.
Dr. Marri said that the report of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed that locust attacks could cost the country a total of four billion dollars or 669 billion Pakistani rupees. “In view of the fact, we have to train the farmers and the community to deal with these disasters, which would help in tackling these problems jointly”, he added.
The Project Manager Sindh Rural Support Organization Akram Sheikh said the trainees are helping poor people in backward districts of Sindh and after this training, the trained team will also impart knowledge to farmers of the backward areas of Thatta, Badin and Mirpurkhas who are suffering from various issues including locust.
The Chairman, Department of Plant Protection Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed Nizamani, Chairman, Department of Entomology Dr. Imran Khatri, Dr. Aftab Raza Jarwar and others also addressed the participants of the workshop.