Media Releases
Agriculture Ministry facilitates Emergency Response Training for Staff
Agriculture Ministry facilitates Emergency Response
Training for Staff
November 13th, 2019:
Speaking at the opening of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training Workshop. Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Ms. Coomarie Goolabsingh said, “Without effective policy guidelines in place for preparedness, and a proper plan of action for the agriculture sector; natural disasters will continue to severely impact our twin island state, and anything that negatively affects agriculture needs to be addressed immediately.”
The Deputy Permanent Secretary added, that because of this country’s vulnerability to climate change and its impact; such training was timely, as the as it aligns to the foundational and overarching Government policies embodied in Vision, 2030. …Theme V states…Placing the Environment at the Centre of Social and Economic Development
The CERT Workshop was facilitated by MALF’s Agricultural Planning Division in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society (TTRCS). The initiative came about as a result of the need for the Agriculture Ministry to develop a co-ordinated Disaster Risk Management (DRM) plan for the agricultural sector, following the extensive flooding in 2017 and 2018 which severely affected several of the nation’s food producers. It was initiated by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Clarence Rambarath in collaboration with both the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The Disaster Risk Management Plan will seek broadly to achieve the following objectives:
Improved Preparedness; Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening of the
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Sectors in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaption (CCA); Increased Sustainability of Livelihoods by Building Resilience; and Risk Identification and Information, Communications Strategy and Early Warning Systems (EWS).
The workshop was attended by persons comprising staff volunteers from the Ministry’s Regional Administration North, Regional Administration South, Animal Production and Health, Engineering and Research Divisions. Its overall objective was to educate persons about disaster preparedness in their area whilst also providing basic training in disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organisation, and disaster medical operations.
The three (3)-day Training Workshop was scheduled to run from 13th – 15th November, 2019 at the Sugar Cane Feeds Centre in Longdenville.
