EEI, Hyderabad organized training programme on Disaster Management and Mitigation Strategies for the Officers of Agriculture and Allied Sectors

Disaster management occupies an important place in India's policy framework, as poor people are most affected by disaster and they are India's predominant population. The steps being taken by the Government emanate from the approach that has been translated into a National Disaster Framework (a roadmap) covering institutional mechanisms, disaster prevention, early warning systems, disaster mitigation, preparedness and response, and human resource development. The key to reducing loss of human and animal life and damage from natural disasters is by giving widespread public awareness and education. People must be made aware of what natural hazards they are likely to face in their own communities. They should know in advance what specific preparations to make before an event, what to do during a tsunami, earthquake, flood, fire, or other likely event, and what actions to take in its aftermath. Equally important, public officials and the media — television, radio, and newspapers — must be fully prepared to respond effectively, responsibly, and speedily to large-scale natural emergencies. They need to be aware, in advance, of procedures to follow in a crisis that threatens to paralyze the entire community they serve, and they need to know how to communicate accurate information to the public during a natural disaster. Special efforts must also be made to reach and plan for the care of particularly vulnerable segments of the population - the farmers and educating them about animals, poultry birds, fisheries, field and orchard crops with information about possible disasters and what to do in an emergency and aftermath. During the inaugural programme Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Director, EEI has stressed the need to design the advisories specifically focused on addressing the crises in agri and allied sectors. These crises may be pest epidemic, cyclones, drought etc. Keeping in view of the significance of extending knowledge to Extension functionaries on Disaster Management and Mitigation mechanisms in Agri and allied sectors, a 4 day Online training programme on “Disaster Management and Mitigation Strategies in Agriculture and Allied sectors” is organized by EEI, Hyderabad from 4th to 7th January 2021, coordinated by Dr. I. Sreenivasarao and Dr. R. Vasantha, professors, EEI, Hyderabad. In this training, participants were educated on Disaster management and livelihoods, crop insurance in disaster management, Disaster Management and mitigation strategies in Agriculture and Horticulture crops, Role of IMD and INCOIS in disaster forecast, Livestock and Fisheries management and mitigation strategies during disasters, Role of Engineering department during Disasters and Management of Landslides. Speaking on the valedictory, Dr. R. Vasantha, Professor and Course coordinator while briefing the programme said that due care is taken to cover the interests of all participants of the training who are from Agriculture and allied sectors by including related topics. She requested the trainees to disseminate the learnings of this training to the farmers and other vulnerable victims of natural disasters of their jurisdiction. R. Vinothkumar, Assit. Engineer, Theni Tamilnadu, Smt. Jameela Kunnath, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Wayanad, Kerala and Smt Anitha, ADA (M &E), Ramanagar, Karnataka said that this training is very useful for them as it addressed important issues faced by them like landslide management, disasters in Agriculture and fisheries sector. Sofji S. Bhadran, Asst. Fisheries Extn. Officer, Kollam, Kerala said that as this training on Disaster management is very useful to them, she requested EEI team to organise a training next time exclusively in Fisheries sector on disaster management and mitigation strategies. Dr. I. Sreenivasarao, Sr. Professor and Course coordinator requested the participants to share their needs and interested areas of trainings during EEI regional workshop so that they can be included in the next year calendar. Programme ended with the vote of thanks proposed by Dr R Vasantha. 69 participants belonging to agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, agri engineering and horticulture from Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhrapradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar islands took part in the programme.