Pak-US scientists work to combat cotton disease

Five American scientists traveled to Pakistan to help Pakistani scientists and farmers combat cotton disease, which has infected cotton throughout country’s cotton belt and can substantially reduce yields and incomes for farmers.American and Pakistani scientists, in coordination with Pakistan’s Ministry of Textile and Industry and the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), organized a workshop on “Enhancing Cotton Germplasm, improving Resistance to Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCuV) Disease supporting Cotton (BMPs) for small farmers and capacity building of pakistani cotton researchers” at National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) to develop solutions to the Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) problem in Pakistan. This workshop is part of the U.S government sponsored Cotton Productivity Enhancement Programme.In his remarks, Todd Drennan, US Agriculture Counselor said “agriculture touches so many lives in Pakistan and is a vital part of Pakistan’s economy. The United States wants to help enhance the productivity of Pakistan’s agricultural sector, especially small farmers. This cooperation between U.S and Pakistani scientists on cotton is an example of that commitment”.The workshop completes a ten days by the American technical team. The team met Pakistani cotton scientists to discuss the results of research on CLCV. The team also visited cotton breeding trails in Faisalabad and Multan. As a result of these trails, which are funded by the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) the team reported good news that some new varieties of cotton are showing preliminary signal of resistance to CLCV.Small farmers are especially vulnerable to the economic impacts caused by this disease. Because of this, the U.S Department of Agriculture has designed the cotton disease research project to help Pakistani farmers. American agricultural scientists continually visit Pakistan to collaborate on research to combat disease affecting Pakistan’s principal crops, especially cotton and wheat.The participants of the workshop said that the CLCV disease is also a world wide threat.