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Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi
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ThesisItem Open Access EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION PATTERN FOR ANIMAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN BIHAR(Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2016) Kumar, Pankaj; Oraon, J.The present study was taken up with the major objective of assessment of disaster management and livestock risk forecasting pattern in the state department of animal husbandry Government of Bihar. The state of Bihar was purposive selected as it is one of the most disaster prone states of India. Six district were purposively selected out of which three districts i.e. Supaul, Khagaria and Nalanda were flood prone, whereas another three i.e. Jamui, Nawada and Kaimur were drought prone. The sample comprised of thirty livestock owner and three SDAH personnel at execution level and 17 personnel, at planning level from each district thus the total sample 90 livestock owners and 60 AHD personnel each for the study of Drought Prone District as well as Flood Prone Districts. The major variables include socio personal and psychological characteristics of SDAH personnel and livestock owners, resources availability in SDAH, disaster management, livestock risk forecasting pattern, risk and emergency communication, the risk service delivery and the effectiveness of these services as perceived .by the SDAH personnel and livestock owners. The significant findings of the study reveal that there was severe scarcity of manpower as well as trained work force in the SDAH for disaster management, where majority of the personnel had never received any training in disaster management. Financial resources were highly inadequate with no provision of contingency for disaster management. Infrastructural resources were also found to be inadequate, where most of the hospitals and FVDs lacked some of the basic infrastructural facilities which are especially needed during disasters. Though annual contingent plans were prepared by SDAH, they could not be implemented as SDAH not directly received funds for this during the disasters. Further contingent plans gave very little importance to risk communication, for which, no funds were spent. The disaster management cell of SDAH did not have any permanent member and due to short period of service of the members, resulting in inefficient planning and implementation and lack of evaluation. There was no formal system for livestock risk forecasting and risk communication. Only some sporadic efforts were taken for livestock risk forecasting to the personnel of SDAH in FPDs, whereas no such effort was taken in DPDs. Further no livestock risk forecasting was done for livestock owners who are the major target of the SDAH and for whom it is the most important factor for effectively managing the livestock risk during the disasters. Monitoring of feed price and livestock and livestock product market behaviour was not done. Monitoring of fodder availability done sporadically followed no scientific procedure Risk communication was mostly done through interpersonal channels. Though efficiency of risk communication was perceived to be good by most of the personnel of SDAH, but that could reach to only a few of the livestock owners which indicate the poor efficiency of risk communication and biased response of SDAH towards the effectiveness of the services provided by them. Similarly the efficiency of risk service delivery though perceived by most of the personnel of SDAH to be good, that was perceived to be unsatisfactory by most of the livestock owners. No attempt was taken for mobilization of voluntary groups or community to aid in livestock service delivery. Scarcity of man power, lack of telephone in veterinary hospitals financial scarcity, lack of prior planning and lack of collaboration with mass media were perceived (found) to be the major constraints in FPDs, where as lack of formal instruction for communication, low literacy and lack of prior planning were perceived (found) to be the major constraints in DPDs, in risk communication to livestock owners. For risk service delivery, scarcity of man power was found to be the largest constraint. Further scarcity of medicines, financial scarcity and wastage of time in feed distribution were perceived (found) to be the constraints in FPDs, whereas lack of storage facility and lack of coordination with local leaders were perceived (found) to be the constraints in DPDs. Visit of AHD personnel to the village at regular intervals was the most important need as reported by most of livestock owners, followed by provision of free medicine for treatment during disasters (II), distribution of feed and fodder free of cost (III) and provision of vaccines free of cost (IV). Short term requirements and relief measures were given more importance by the livestock owners. At the same time mitigation measures and long term needs were given importance by very few owners. This clearly indicates the lack of awareness among the livestock owners regarding mitigation and prevention measures. The study revealed that most of the livestock owners were having agriculture as their primary occupation. At the same time the herd size was also too small. The secondary data revealed that most of the cattle population consisted of low productive non-descriptive breeds whereas the cross bred population was less than 30 per cent in the FPDs and less than 10 per cent in the DPDs. Further the density of livestock population, livestock pressure on pasture land and net area sown clearly indicate the impact of drought on livestock sector. The voluntary organizations, NGOs, Public representations and the community need to be mobilized to overcome the scarcity of man power for risk service delivery during disasters. The scope for outsourcing some of the relatively basic livestock services during disasters needs to be explored. The personnel posted in disaster prone districts should be given training for disaster management. A specific course regarding disaster management needs to be included in the curriculum of B.V. Sc. and A.H. Strengthening of VERU, BVC, which is first of its kind in India and its linkages with animal husbandry department needs to be explored urgently for disaster preparedness and mitigation planning and training. Disaster contingency funds should be created at the directorate and under the disposal of each of the DAHOs of the disaster prone districts. The annual budget of the department should have specific allocation of contingency for disaster management .That will provide the department enough discretion for implementation of the contingent plan. Basic infrastructural facilities need to be provided to all the veterinary hospitals and field veterinary dispensaries. (FVDS) in the disaster prone areas. The contingent plans for both flood and drought need to be prepared well in advance with the help of experts. The disaster management planning cell needs to be reformed with more permanent members. A formal system for livestock risk forecasting needs to be established in collaboration with meteorological department, BSDMA, VERU of SAUs and other relevant organizations. Livestock risk forecasting system needs to monitor fodder availability, feed price and livestock and livestock product market behaviour for efficient forecasting of risks. Appropriate scientific methods like leaf area index and GIS technique need to be used for assessment of fodder (pasture) availability. Early warning system, public address system and life saving kits need to be provided to all the hospitals of disaster prone areas along with proper training. The forecasted risk information needs to be communicated to the livestock owners. Mass media and other high fidelity channels need to be used in parallel for efficient communication of risk information to the livestock owners. Further the channels need to be chosen based on the information source use pattern and access to information sources of the livestock owners. Risk communication should be planned with respect to its different aspects. The aim of risk communication should be development of a disaster conscious sub culture within the vulnerable community. In DPDs, where illiteracy was the major problems, the risk information needs to be treated appropriately and broadcasted in local language. The efficiency of risk communication and risk service delivery needs to be evaluated after every disaster. The feedback from livestock owners needs to be given more emphasis in order to improve the efficiency of risk communication and risk service delivery. “Fodder Banks” need to be established in all the disaster prone districts. As disasters don’t occur every year and in equal severity every time, so the fodder bank established by the government agencies may not be economically sustainable. Hence, the scope for public private partnership based contract farming model in collaboration with the NGOs, Dairy cooperative societies or voluntary organizations needs to be explored. Emergencies do not just appear for one day, rather they exist throughout time and have a lifecycle of occurrence, and hence the management strategy of SDAH should maintain the phases of an emergency in order to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from its effect, i.e. all the four phases of emergency management : Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery should be visualised as having a circular relationship (Emergency Management Cycle) to each other.