ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam organized 3 days training programme on “Soil and Water Conservation and Watershed Management” sponsored by Tamil Nadu Watershed Development Agency (TAWDEVA), Chennai, Tamil Nadu from 10-12, May 2023 for senior district level officers of Tamil Nadu. There were total 18 no. of participants working as Assistant Director of Agriculture, Deputy Director of Agriculture and Assistant Engineers from various districts of Tamil Nadu. Inaugural function of the training programme was organized on 10, May 2023 and the detailed schedule of training was discussed by Dr. S. M. Vanitha, Senior Scientist and training co-ordinator.

Dr. P. Sundarambal, Acting head and course director in her inaugural address spoke on the importance of watershed programmes in conserving natural resources under the changing climatic scenario, the present status of soil erosion, land degradation and climate change impact on agriculture, also spoke about the timely measures to be taken up with advanced tools and technologies as a need of the hour. The inaugural programme was followed by technical sessions wherein the topics like PMKSY-WDC 2.0 An overview, GIS & Remote sensing in watershed management, Land resource inventory in watershed management-experience of SUJALA watershed, Climate change impact on natural resource management-case study of Ayalur watershed and other topics on community organization, economic impact assessment, various horticulture &agroforestry systems, biological and mechanical measures for erosion control and livelihood support and microenterprises in watershed management. The external resource persons delivered the lecture through online, field visits were arranged for research farm and to the model watershed of Iduhatty, Udhagamandalam. The participants were actively involved in all the sessions and interacted with the resource persons by sharing their field level experiences working at different places. Valedictory was conducted on 12, May 2023 and the certificates were distributed to all the participants. Smt. C. Poongothai, Deputy Director of Agriculture and nodal officer of the training programme, TAWDEVA, Chennai gave positive feedback for the training programme organized and conducted at IISWC, RC, Ooty. Mr. A. Murugesan, Technical officer and Mr. K. Sangili organized the valedictory session of the training programme.