100 specialists to get integrated digital tools training in pest detection
Information from FAO indicates that Africa's agricultural exports face up to 30% rejection rates due to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) non-compliance.
Plant inspectors learning how to use digital tools for pest surveillance in Kalangala last year. (Credit: Prossy Nandudu)
____________
A total of 100 phytosanitary specialists from 18 countries have converged in Ethiopia to be trained in advanced pest surveillance techniques, including the use of customised digital tools and applications for monitoring, detecting and reporting major pests of economic, regulatory and environmental importance in Africa.
During the training being hosted by the Government of Ethiopia through the Ethiopian Agricultural Authority (EAA), Phase 3 of the Africa Phytosanitary Programme (APP) is also expected to be launched. The countries taking part in the training are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Libya, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sudan, Togo. In attendance are observers from Yemen, phytosanitary officers from four countries across the two previous phases: Egypt, Mali, South Africa and Uganda, and FAO plant health officers in Africa.
The third phase Africa Phytosanitary Programme (APP) training is being conducted by specialists from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), with an aim of stopping the spread of plant pests and diseases in Africa using cutting-edge digital tools.
During the workshop, participants will take part in a weeklong Train-the-Trainer (ToT) workshop in advanced pest surveillance techniques, including the use of customised digital tools and applications for monitoring, detecting and reporting major pests of economic, regulatory and environmental importance in Africa.
The pilot and second phases of APP started in 2023 and 2025, engaging phytosanitary specialists from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and then Algeria, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Liberia, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
“Pests do not respect geographical boundaries or geopolitical borders. Therefore, a fragmented approach is no longer an option. To secure our food supply and fortify our economies, we require a unified, data-driven and highly coordinated front,” he said at the opening of the workshop on Tuesday.
Impact of pests on agricultural produce
Information from FAO indicates that Africa's agricultural exports face up to 30% rejection rates due to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) non-compliance.
But in Egypt, where surveillance is harmonised with reliable data on pest-free production of key commodities such as citrus, mango and grapes, have supported new market openings in the Dominican Republic and Peru.
Other countries that have integrated AAP digital tools in their national surveillance systems to improve data collection and storage, and also enhance pest detection, like Uganda and Kenya, showed a reduction.
Have the tools helped Uganda?
According to officials, Uganda's agriculture ministry (MAAIF) has since integrated digital tools into its national surveillance systems to improve data collection and pest detection.
This has enabled the country to keep pests such as Xylella fastidiosa, which mainly affects flower farms and banana bunchy top, at bay through regular monitoring.
Commenting on the development, Saliu Niassy, the Coordinator of the African Union Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (AU-IAPSC), said that the Africa Phytosanitary Programme represents one of the continent’s most ambitious efforts to build a functional, harmonised and digitally connected phytosanitary network.
“Plant health is no longer simply an agricultural construct. Investing in plant health is investing in food security, economic resilience and peace. We want to make sure that all our member states have strong, modern phytosanitary systems to respond rapidly to emerging pests”, he said.
Funded through the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, APP phase three builds on support from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which funded the pilot in 2023. Ongoing efforts now are focused on scaling the benefits from APP to more African countries and other regions.