Bija Vidyapeeth: Centre for Learning
Agricultural regeneration and revival in Tsunami Affected Areas
On December 26 th, 2004 , the Tsunami swept over the coastlines and islands from Indonesia to the Maldives , claiming over 290,000 lives and obliterating livelihoods of millions more. In India , the areas worst hit in order of severity were:
- Andaman and NicobarIslands ,
- the Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Karaikal districts in Tamil Nadu,
- Kanyakumari on the southern extremity of the peninsula, and
- a small stretch of coastline west of the Kollam-Allapuzha backwaters in Kerala.
It decimated fishing fleets, inundated crop land with seawater and debris, destroyed irrigation and drainage systems and damaged mangroves and wetlands.
Navdanya has been involved in the assessment of the Tsunami damage and in the drafting and implementation of long-term rehabilitation strategies for farmers in the ravaged coastal communities, in the Nagapattinam District. The most urgent priority is the commencement of the cropping season with the onset of the North-East monsoon, viz., October-January. However, long-term programmes to restore and improve the livelihoods of the farming community, to reclaim coastal agro-ecosystems and to re-establish local markets, (i.e. Agricultural Reconstruction) are indispensable.
With this in view, Bija Vidyapeeth, has decided to hold participatory workshops/course on “Agricultural Regeneration and Revival in Tsunami Affected Areas” in Nagapattinam on July 9 th and 10 th 2005. On the 11 th, there shall be a (optional) trip to the mangrove area in Muthupet, Nagapattinam District.
The course/workshop, shall:
- Delineate the framework for the need for sustainable rehabilitation of lands and livelihoods post-disaster,
- Measures for reclaiming tsunami-ravaged soils through phyto-remediation and other organic methods,
- Provision of farmer-bred saline resistant rice varieties brought in from Orissa to farmers in villages adopted by Navdanya
- Field trip to agricultural village communities, where hectares of paddy have been inundated with saltwater and silt,
- Field trip to the neighbouring mangrove area in Muthupet, Vedaranyam, Nagapattinam District.
Faculty:
Dr. Debal Deb, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Ashok Panigrahi, Bija Devi, Dr. Vinod Bhat, Darwan Singh Negi.
This faculty has experience with regard to the regeneration of sustainable livelihoods through agro-biodiversity conservation and sustainable farming after the Orissa cyclone disaster.
Representatives of local NGOs, and officials from the Agriculture Dept, Nagapattinam, shall also be present.
