APP: Des faits à l’impact : renforcer les systèmes phytosanitaires et le commerce en Afrique

Across Africa, agriculture sustains lives, economies, and communities. But plant pests and diseases threaten crop production, food security, and trade. >> Strong plant pest surveillance is key to staying ahead of these threats. It is cheaper and more effective to prevent pests than to manage or eradicate them after establishment. That's where the Africa Phytoanitary Program or AP comes in. Led by the International Plant Protection Convention, IPCC, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, and the African Union Commission, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Development. A equips countries with digital tools, harmonized protocols, and skills to modernize pest surveillance. A is a unique opportunity for African countries to come together and conduct surveillance on key pests that affect agricultural productivity. >> Since its launch in 2023, A has expanded to 38 countries across Africa, driving significant changes in pest surveillance and prevention. A has provided tablets, advanced mapping tools, pest survey protocols, and training to over 600 plant health professionals, enabling them to collect realtime geo referenced data, even offline. With over 800 active users, the AGIS hub enables field inspectors to locate pests faster and manage them better. One of the phytoary challenges that Uganda has been facing is the weak perseverance system. So a is coming in to digitize our uh perseverance activities and therefore we have read data uh that is used in our trade negotiations and market access. real time data is collected and sent to a central monitoring place where we are able to uh correspond equally and make decisions in real time. We have a serious gap in the area of pest surveillance detecting alip pest attack and also reporting but the Africa phyto sanity program training on pest surveillance has given me an indepth understanding on how I can be able to identify the major pest that is affect affecting our country. Previously we were collecting data using our papers, pens and the like but now we have learned to collect data using technologies like uh using tablets. This it helps it will help us to uh to minimize the time of collecting data. We've put in places representatives from all our border entry exit points and inland uh inland offices where our planned health inspectors, representatives from extension have been trained. We hope that there is now a training of trainers in those provinces. ABB has addressed our main challenges in terms of uh determination of best status and uh moving forward with reliable data needed for market access. uh we have had uh uh on-time data from field surveys uh transparent data which we can u easily analyze and we can prove that a place of production is free of pest. Our aim is to reduce the incidence of those pests. Hence need to survey for their presence and if they are present we have also have to indicate what measures we have taken to reduce those pests in our produce so that the importing countries can be confident of our produce and once they detect those pests in their produce they can return the consignment and we call those interceptions. So this this training also enables us to reduce interceptions going forward. >> A is an initiative that not only helps African countries but also helped uh other regions in the world by providing reliable data and also ensuring uh decision making based on evidence. Countries are also taking ownership and scaling the program. Mali trained over 120 inspectors, equipped them with tablets and motorbikes to expand surveillance coverage. Uganda uses a digital tools for nationwide surveillance of Xyla fidiosa protecting key exports through realtime monitoring. Cameroon has built a strong national team of 150 officers now using digital systems to track and respond to major threats like fruit flies, banana bunchy top virus and cotton jacid across all its 10 regions. Kenya integrated A priority pests into national work plan uses A tools for surveillance of key pests for example banana bunchy top virus and fusarium wilt of banana Egypt integrated A into its national traceability system is transforming plant protection in Africa strengthening national systems reducing crop losses protecting biodiversity and enabling safer trade. As we move forward, we are working to further amplify the successful outcomes of a scaling impact, sharing results, and extending the benefits across the continent and beyond. With continued partnership and investment, this model can go even further. Step forward with us, invest, partner, and help us take a further. Join us in advancing plant health for Africa and the world.