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African countries urged to prevent importation of pest
Accra, April 1, Ghanadot/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.
GNA
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