African countries urged to check imports with pest risk

Accra, April 1, GNA - Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, on Tuesday urged African countries to establish appropriate requirements for imports to prevent the introduction of quarantine pests and promote safe trade.

Such requirements, he said, were set through Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) which involved the process of evaluating biological or other scientific and economic evidence to determine whether a pest should be regulated or any phytosanitary measures be applied. These were contained in a speech read on his behalf at a five-day PRA workshop organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Accra.

Participating countries are Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger, Mali, Gabon, Cameroon and Senegal. Mr Debrah said decision makers must create conducive atmosphere by providing adequate resources for the conduct of PRA with little interference.

He said the rate of population growth in Africa required revolutionary means for ensuring that every one was fed through introduction of proven varieties of seed which could also serve as a pathway for the introduction of pests.

Mr Debrah said pests could occur at anytime and for that matter, there should be a comprehensive PRA based on national pest surveillance data and previous interceptions.

He said unfortunately, due to limited capacities and capabilities, most African countries did not have up-to-date information on pest surveillance, interception and check list for pests. He appealed to the FAO to initiate programmes where trained personnel were given equipment and other materials to undertake joint PRA for zones they came from.

Mr Debrah said when this was done and similar mitigation measures were applied, countries would be protected from the introduction and spread of pests of quarantine significance.

Mr Tesfai Tecle, Officer-in-charge of FAO Africa Regional Office, reiterated the idea for the provision of resources to control spread of pests, saying the participation in the workshop recognizes the importance of fully functional national photo-sanitary service.