Academia-industry Collaboration Imperative To Make Farming Profitable Enterprise: Experts

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2025) The experts said that collaboration between academia, industry and research organizations is vital to combat pest and insect attacks on crops in addition to enhance farm productivity and make farming a profitable enterprise.

They were speaking at a collaborative session held at the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) Conference Room, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), where they experts from Syngenta Pakistan; UAF; and the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) participated.

The participants stressed the need to strengthen partnerships with UAF to establish standardized research laboratories and engage students in research on emerging plant protection challenges. They emphasized responsible pesticide use.

Faisal Bashir, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Syngenta Pakistan said that Syngenta has established over 20 Learning Centers and five Farmer Training Centers across the country, providing comprehensive support including fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, and advisory services.

He underscored Syngenta’s commitment to crop protection stewardship from R&D, adding that farmer education and safe pesticide use are core components of their outreach programs.

Prof. Dr. Waseem Akram, Chairman, Department of Entomology, UAF, pointed out that farmers often receive scattered and unreliable information. He called for establishing standardized testing laboratories at UAF to provide credible data for policymakers and the farming community. He also proposed setting up learning centers at UAF and its sub-campuses to train youth and promote modern agricultural practices.

Dr. Arshad Makhdom Sabir, Chief Scientist, Entomology Research Institute, AARI, called for a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for rice pest control. He stated that reliance on chemical control alone is unsustainable and counterproductive in the long term.

Dr. Sabir highlighted the importance of adopting eco-friendly and economically viable IPM components, including use of resistant varieties, conservation of natural enemies, cultural practices, biological control, and need-based pesticide application.

He further proposed joint IPM demonstration trials between AARI, UAF, and Syngenta to validate field-based pest management models that could later be scaled up across major rice-growing regions.

Prof. Dr. Dildar Gogi urged shifting from calendar-based to strategic pesticide applications, which would help minimize pesticide residues in crops. He said that in the face of climate changes, the agricultural sector was facing severe challenges.

Dr. Sagheer Ahmad, Associate Professor, Entomology, called upon the private sector to collaborate with UAF in organizing capacity-building programs for farmers, ensuring safe use of pesticides and proper container management.

Dr. Khuram Zia, Manager Innovation and Commercialization, ORIC, called for data-driven decision-making in pest management through the adoption of innovative technologies to monitor pest dynamics, spatial distribution, and infestation trends in real time. He highlighted that digital monitoring systems, when linked with localized research data, can enable timely interventions and help determine accurate and region-specific action threshold levels for notorious rice pests, particularly the Brown Planthopper (BPH) and Rice Leaf Folder (RLF).

Prof. Dr. Abdul Rehman Bhatti, Chairman, Department of Plant Pathology, cautioned against imposing pesticide bans without empirical data, noting that such actions could create confusion among stakeholders. He urged regulatory bodies to base their decisions on credible scientific evidence.

Among other participants included Dr. Imran Nadeem (AARI), Shoaib Safdar (Syngenta), Imtiaz Ali (Syngenta), Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Sahi, Dr. Amir Habib, Dr. Furqan Asghar, Dr. Humaira Razzaq, Shahzaib Ali, Muhammad Hanif Chaudhry, and Abdur Rehman Sukhera.

UAF spokesman said that the session concluded with a mutual commitment to enhance academia-industry linkages, promote IPM-based sustainable crop protection strategies, and advance Pakistan’s agricultural resilience through innovation and responsible pest management.

It was proposed that UAF, in collaboration with AARI, Syngenta, and regulatory agencies, develop revised, research-backed threshold models incorporating climatic variability, varietal response, and pest resurgence trends to ensure more precise pest control strategies, he added.