Addis Ababa — The United Nations has launched the third phase of its Africa Phytosanitary Programme, a continent-wide initiative to combat destructive crop pests through advanced digital surveillance.
This third phase is spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).
The project aimed to advance pest surveillance techniques, including the use of customized digital tools and applications for monitoring, detecting, and reporting major pests of economic, regulatory, and environmental importance in Africa.
The launch of the third phase hosted by the government of Ethiopia took place on Tuesday in Addis Ababa.
The event gathered over 100 plant health experts from 18 countries for a week-long training session focused on advanced pest surveillance techniques and digital diagnostics.
The participants were drawn from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Libya, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipé, Sudan, and Togo.
Participants are expected to receive state-of-the-art tablets for geospatial pest surveillance, use field survey protocols developed by technical experts, and undertake practical sessions using the pest survey tools.
While addressing the gathering on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ambassador Diriba Kuma, Director General, Ethiopian Agricultural Authority (EAA) said the workshop will build the critical human capacity necessary to eliminate trade disruptions and expand global market access.
“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,” Kuma said.
He said the Africa Phytosanitary Program provides the strategic, contindadata-driven,mework needed to protect plant resources and agricultural trade from the devastating impact of pests.
Amb. Kuma highlighted Ethiopia’s efforts to improve its phytosanitary systems through the rollout of the IPPC ePhyto Solution and the use of the PCE tool to support the development of a five-year Strategic Plan.
For his part, Enrico Perotti, Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), called for continued vigilance against plant pests and diseases, citing rising pressures driven by climate change, global travel, and trade.
“We have to amplify all the lessons we learn here so that the price we pay is not too heavy in the future. While some countries have waived import tariffs for agricultural produce from Africa, non-compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) could still disrupt Africa’s access to international markets, affecting economic growth,” Perotti said.
According to Perotti, adherence to international standards will help Africa improve trade, support food production, and strengthen food security.
Orlando Sosa, Representative ad interim, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ethiopia, said that “The Africa Phytosanitary Programme is not simply introducing new tools or new technologies. It is helping build a community of professionals who can learn from one another, support one another, and work together to strengthen plant health systems across the continent,”
Saliou Niassy, Coordinator of the African Union Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (AU-IAPSC), said the Africa Phytosanitary Programme represents one of the continent’s most ambitious efforts to build a functional, harmonized, and digitally connected phytosanitary network.
“What is so valuable about the program is that for the first time, plant health experts across Africa have access to the same information platforms. Plant health is no longer simply an agricultural construct. Investing in plant health is investing in food security, economic resilience, and peace,” Niassy said.
He added that “we want to make sure that all our member states have strong, modern phytosanitary systems to “Investingapidly to emerging pests.”
Mohamed Habib Ben Jamaa, Executive Director of the Near East and North Africa Plant Protection organizations (NEPPO), said that “we note the need for the private sector to contribute to enhancing access to innovative technologies and smart pest management tools. We need to increase public-private partnerships or forums – bringing together innovators, regulators, farmers, donors, importers, exporters, and policymakers.”
The pilot and second phases of APP started in 2023 and 2025, respectively, engaging phytosanitary specialists from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congforums—bringingBissau, 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.
Upon return to their respective countries, plant health officers are expected to train their peers in the national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) and other government stakeholders on the use of the APP suite of digital tools.
