WIT with FAO and Department of Agriculture Holds Focused Discussion Group for Sindh

Centre for Water Informatics and Technology (WIT-SBASSE) in support with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Department of Agriculture held a Focused Group Discussion on Provincial Agriculture Disaster Risk Management Operational Plan (ADRMOP) for Sindh On October 25, 2018 organised by the US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies on Water (USPCAS-W) at Mehran University, Jamshoro, Sindh. Under the supervision of Dr. Mahmood Ahmed, LUMS team included, Dr. Abubakar Muhammad, Dr. Sanval Nasim, Dr. Saher Asad and Dr. Asif Khan.

The objective of the group was to develop a comprehensive Agriculture Disaster Risk Management Operational plans and propose implementation structures and guidelines for the Province. An enthusiastic and tremendous participation of approximately 30+ representatives was witnessed from not only the social sector but also academia, industrial, public and welfare sectors across Pakistan.

The main agenda that WIT Centre, LUMS with the support of Department of Agriculture and USPCAS-W had on mind was to organise a consultation forum for stakeholders to provide them with a platform for detailed multistep consultation process involving all departments, farmers, traders, NGOs and the private sector.  The process of Focus Group Discussions (FGD) brought a clear idea of main building blocks of strategic options that were:

• Understanding of main hazards and their implications on agriculture
• Institutional and farmer capacity to cope with agriculture DRM
• Adaptation and mitigation measures (planned and in practice) in DRM
• Identification of strategic goals and plans