On campus training programme was organized on “Disaster Management and Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture and allied sectors” at EEI, Rajendranagar from 12 th to 16 th Dec, 2023

India, due to its weather, geographical location and physical features is susceptible to disasters like flood, drought, etc. and many of the farmers live in the disaster prone areas. Environmental degradation may negatively affect agricultural productivity, food security, food safety and civil protection. In this regard a five day On campus training programme was organized on “Disaster Management and Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture and allied sectors” at EEI, Rajendranagar Hyderabad from 12th to 16th December, 2023. Contents covered in the programme were - Disaster Management and mitigation strategies in Agriculture and Horticulture crops, Disaster management and livelihoods, Sevabharathi (NGO) in disaster preparedness, management and mitigation, Role of IMD, NRSA and INCOIS in disaster management through institutional visits, Livestock and Poultry management and mitigation strategies during disasters, Gender budgeting and GOI schemes and initiatives for farmers welfare, Hands on training on use of Online graphic designing platforms for Production and dissemination of disaster alerts and mitigation strategies, Development of Disaster management strategies state wise and department wise : Group exercises and participants presentations. An Icebreaking exercise on bridge your ball was done to unearth lateral thinking skills, problem solving and leadership skills. Importance of team work, decision making, cooperation and coordination were understood by trainees through real time performance. Field visits were organized to NRSC, Shadnagar, IMD-Begumpet, INCOIS- Kukatpally. The Field visit to INCOIS facilitated the participants to get exposed to tsunami warnings, earth quake warning, Geo-tagging of tuna fishes, tsunami buoy, gliders, GEMINI etc, instruments used in oceans for data recording. Simulated oceans were demonstrated to trainees to make them aware of oceanic conditions created to test the gliders, IMD- Doppler radar to receive satellite data, sunshine measuring instruments, wind velocity and direction recorders, working of observatory instruments were practically shown to trainees. Hydrogen gas balloons with sensors to record atmospheric data were released by one of the trainees under expert supervision. Participants were exposed to weather forecasting, warning, dissemination of weather alerts to farmers and extension officials, NRCS- Raw data received at Dubai airport, antenna for satellite data receiving, data storage rooms were practically shown and sessions on flood management, urban flood management, inundation modeling and mapping, forecast of landslides, forest fires, droughts and cyclones were delivered to trainees. During hands on training, trainees were experienced on development and dissemination of disaster alerts and management strategies. Using mobiles with the help of PICVOICE and CANVA apps they have developed several Audio+Picture+Video messages and also Video+Picture+Text+Animation messages in the concerned session. Speaking on inaugural event, Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Director, EEI elaborated the role played by climate change in causing disasters. He directed the trainees to follow the UNs COP 28 deliberations organised at Dubai. During valedictory, Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Director, EEI, suggested trainees to implement learnings back home and send feedback in 3 spells. He felt that as suggested in COP, building flood defences, setting up early warning systems for cyclones, switching to drought resistant crops etc. are to be taught to farmers back home. A total of 28 participants from the Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Kerala were participated in the programme. All the participants expressed that, they have learnt how to develop a road map for disaster management in EEI training which they wanted to implement at back home situation. Some of them felt that disaster management strategies taught in EEI will be shared with other officers and farmers in their areas. The programme was coordinated by Dr. R.Vasantha, Professor, EEI, Hyderabad.