FAISALABAD: Pakistan is ranked the 8th most vulnerable country in the Global Climate Risk Index Report 2021, posing a serious threat to food security, said Vice Chancellor (VC) University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan.
He was addressing the inaugural session of 17th four-week workshop organized by the Professional Training and Skill Development Center UAF for officers of Agriculture Department, Punjab, on the subject of “Finance, Administration, Management and e-Governance” on Wednesday.
He said that the weather patterns had been in a constant flux. Shifting monsoons, delayed winters, early spring heat shocks, and intense heat waves in summer, etc kept adding to the uncertainty.
He said that due to climate changes, the resistance of pests had increased, which had become a challenge for pest management experts.
He said that the agricultural scientists would have to play a pivotal role to safeguard the crops from damage of pink bollworm, locust, fall armyworm, fruit fly and other pests to ensure the increment in per acre production.
Director Professional Training and Skill Development Center Prof. Dr. Mahmood A. Randhawa said that agricultural development was directly linked to poverty alleviation.
He said that it was the need of the hour to transfer the latest technology to the farmers, in which ‘we have to play an important role’.
He said that all possible measures were being taken to improve the skills of the participants of the workshop so that they could shoulder their responsibility effectively.
He said that this training workshop had been made mandatory for the promotion of the officers of the Agriculture Department Punjab, Dr. Neelam and Dr. Amer Rasool also spoke on this occasion.