Nine Agro-meteorology experts and extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Eritrea, travelled to Bangladesh from 12-23 May 2017 for a study visit.
Nine Agro-meteorology experts and extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Eritrea, travelled to Bangladesh from 12-23 May 2017 for a study visit. The visit was to exchange information and share knowledge on disasters and climate risk management for food security information and was facilitated by UNDP Eritrea in collaboration with UNDP Bangladesh.
The team visited the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief headquarters where they held discussions about Disaster Risk Management (DRM) policies, programme and early warning systems.
Mr. Tekeste Weldeghebriel, an Agro-meteorology expert was in the team that went to Bangladesh. He was impressed by the well-structured meteorological institutions in Bangladesh. He said, “I was captivated by the application of technology and meteorology science; I learned a lot on forecasting, disaster risk reduction, climate change reduction, support to vulnerable groups and technology transfer.” The team visited Strom Warning Centre where the Meteorological department had a demonstration on early warning products and climate forecasting at national, sub-national and grassroots level.
Another participant, Ms. Genet Gebregziabher, a crop production expert was one of the three ladies that visited Bangladesh. She was fascinated by the institutions capacity and use of information technology in research and knowledge transfer. “A big lesson for me was on how they use technology to disseminate messages to the farmers and vice versa. Transfer of information to the farmers can be replicated in Eritrea.” She added. She recommended that more officials should visit Bangladesh for training on coping with drought and meteorological management.
The team visited the Regional meteorological station in Rangpur, where they learned about establishment of agro-meteorological observatories, equipment, and day-to-day data collection, storage and related activities. The team also visited the “Teesta River Barrage” to observe surface water irrigation, ‘sand bar programme’ by the Practical Action, coastal belt agriculture, solar energy, bio gas, integrated agriculture, reverse osmosis water treatment, rain water harvesting and drinking water supply systems.
They also visited the Rural Development Academy (RDA) in Bogra, an international academy that focuses on research and conducts training through field demonstrations. They interacted with researchers, farmers and visited demonstration farms and learned about use of technology for rural interventions.
Going forward, the team recommended a South to South and Triangular Cooperation for sustainable Human Development between the Government of the State of Eritrea (GoSE) and Government of Bangladesh on the areas of Early warning, food security information systems and rural development.
South-South Cooperation is when two or more developing countries pursue their individual and/or shared national capacity development objectives; through exchanges of knowledge, skills, resources and technical know-how, and through regional and interregional collective actions, including partnerships involving Governments, regional organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector, for their individual and/or mutual benefit within and across regions.
