A two-year project funded by the European Union to improve food safety and plant health in African Union member countries kicks off

FAO and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat began face-to-face training sessions for select participants in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, and launched the assessment of the national food control systems in the island nations of Seychelles and Comoros. These events, held in the last weeks of 2022, were part of a global 5-million-euro project to improve food safety and phytosanitary systems in 12 member countries of the African Union.

"Strengthening of Capacities and Governance in Food and Phytosanitary Control,” is a Five Million Euro project funded by the European Union. It is built around food safety and plant health, and is spearheaded by a team of food safety and phytosanitary systems experts from FAO’s Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) and the IPPC Secretariat. Both teams will provide technical support and work with governments to assess the state of the food control and phytosanitary systems and to develop strategic plans to improve food safety and plant health.

The two components are centered around two state-of-the-art tools.

The FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool is a unique instrument which comprehensively evaluates the capacities of a country’s food control system. National food control systems play a pivotal role in protecting the health of consumers and guaranteeing fair practices in the food trade. Measuring their performance allows to identify areas for improvement and target investments, ensuring that the system is effective and that limited resources are targeting the right priorities.

The Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE) is a management tool with a proven record of enabling countries to assess their strengths and weaknesses and putting in place a sovereign plant health plan. It has been used to revise phytosanitary legislation, set national phytosanitary capacity development strategies, and mobilize resources to implement priority activities. Both tools are internationally recognized as ways to strengthen the national systems, support regional harmonization, and improve dialogue for enhanced trade.

“We have to equally invest and ensure that the quality of food commodities that we produce, import, export and consume are in line with the local and international standards and the country’s health policy,” said Seychelles’ Minister of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Flavien Joubert at the four-day training of focal points in Victoria last month. “This training could not have been more timely and propitious,” he added. The national focal points in Moroni, Comoros, and in Victoria, Seychelles received training from the ESF team of assessors on how to collect information and data, which are tasks they will perform over the next several weeks. These same assessors had been previously trained on the use of the Assessment Tool over a week-long workshop in July 2022 in Rome.

The first phase of the phytosanitary component of the project involves training individuals, first online and then in-person, in the initial steps of the process for becoming new PCE facilitators. In a survey conducted among facilitators following their training, participants overwhelmingly indicated high level of satisfaction with the training and the lessons, noting an increased knowledge of core phytosanitary topics relevant to conducting a PCE. The next phase of the training programme will continue in 2023, ensuring a new pool of trained facilitators able to support National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) in implementing PCEs at a national level. 

Justina Chivanga, one of the trainees from Zambia said, “apart from building my capacity with relevant tools to successfully conduct a PCE, participating in the training program has empowered me with other career enhancing skills such as organization, communication, presentation, and teamwork.”

The project is part of a wider European program to strengthen sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) capacities and governance throughout African Union countries in support of the newly established Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The analysis and costed plans resulting from the project’s assessments will contribute to assisting the AU with technical advice to best reinvest the results into policy development.