Capacity Building Pogram under TCS, Colombo Plan on Fisheries Extension at ICAR-CIFT, Cochin

ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin has organized an international level capacity building program on ‘Extension Methodologies for Coastal Fisheries' for the participants of the member countries of Colombo plan from 15-26 November, 2016. The program was sponsored by ITEC, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India under Technical Cooperation Scheme (TCS) of Colombo Plan. Two foreign participants namely Mr. Lutfur Rahman and Mr. Sharif Ahmed from Bangladesh attended the programme.

Chairing over the inaugural session, Dr. C.N. Ravishankar, Director, ICAR-CIFT, Cochin highlighted the importance of innovative extension methodologies for effective technology dissemination. He pointed out that suitable technologies should be passed on to the end users through need assessment and problem prioritization following PRA methods.  Highlighting the significant accomplishments of ICAR-CIFT in the harvesting and post harvesting sectors in fishery, he called upon the participants to share their experiences and ideas through ELC mode to make the learning process more realistic.  The inaugural session was attended by all the Head of Divisions/ Sections, resource scientists and participants.

Training session has comprehensively covered various aspects of extension approaches like need assessment, problem prioritization, participatory techniques, entrepreneurship development, project monitoring and evaluation techniques, impact assessment methodologies and gender mainstreaming value chain analysis. Besides, technical sessions on various aspects relating to advanced technologies in fisheries sector like responsible harvesting, processing and quality assurance, food safety, HACCP, fish biodiversity conservation, technological innovations in nutraceuticals and emerging issues of pathogens were also included in the program. Apart from scientists of ICAR-CIFT, experts from ICAR-CMFRI, CIFNET (Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training), NIFPHAAT (National Institute of Fisheries Post Harvest Technology and Training) and MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority)  were also involved as resource persons. Through different field visit programs, trainees were also exposed to the activities of KVK, Njarakal, Ernakulum district; fish landing centres, improved fish markets and other allied Institutions working in fishery sector and actively involved in the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises conducted at  ‘Kumbalam’, an inland fisheries  village at Ernakulam district. The training concluded on 26^th November, 2016 with the country presentation by the participants, where participants gave  brief overview of fisheries sector of Bangladesh and Marine Academy of Bangladesh  which was followed by certificate distribution by Dr. Susheela Mathew, Director (i/c), ICAR-CIFT, Cochin.