Produced by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). To join IAPPS and receive the Crop Protection journal online go to: www.plantprotection.org
Washington state agriculture officials have expanded the boundaries of the Japanese beetle quarantine in the central part of the state after examining trapping data from the 2023 season.
While the original quarantine was established in the Grandview and Sunnyside areas, the new rule set by the Washington State Department of Agriculture expands the quarantine to encompass new areas where beetles have been caught, primarily in Sunnyside and west of Grandview.
Soil samples were added as regulated articles and the rule specifies conditions governing the movement of soil samples from quarantined areas to non-quarantined areas. The emergency rule also requires businesses located in the quarantine area selling regulated articles under WAC 16-470-710(4) or (7) to post signage developed by WSDA clearly stating that regulated articles purchased cannot be transported outside of the quarantined area.
The emergency rule amendment clarifies that under WAC 16-470-710(7), “cut flowers for decorative purposes” includes those flowers that are exposed to open-air environments during their harvest, transportation, or trade. Lastly, the amendment adds a condition for the transport of cut flowers grown in the quarantined area to areas outside the quarantined area.
Emergency rules are in effect immediately and last for 120 days. Officials will also begin the process of making the emergency rule permanent.
Three-year effort
For the past three years, WSDA has taken extensive measures to reduce the spread of the beetle with the goal of eradicating it. These measures include treating area properties with a pesticide, trapping, and establishing a quarantine.
These efforts reduced Japanese beetle catches in 2023 compared to the years prior; however, detections were found over a wider area including as far away as Pasco.
Community members can help by trapping, reporting, and killing the beetles on their properties, WSDA officials said. Residents and businesses must also follow the quarantine to prevent spreading the beetles by not moving items known to transport beetles outside of the quarantine area.
Adult Japanese beetles are metallic green and brown and have little tufts of white hair on their sides. They emerge – usually from lawns or in other soil – in the spring and feed throughout the summer. From fall to spring the grubs (larvae) overwinter in the soil and slowly develop into mature adults ready to emerge again in the spring.
To limit the need to move yard debris and other plant material outside the quarantine area, WSDA has established a drop-off site available during the adult flight season, May to October. Businesses and residents can take all accepted items to the Japanese Beetle Response Yard Debris Drop-Off at 875 Bridgeview Rd., Grandview, WA 98930. There is no charge for disposal.
Those moving out of the quarantine area will not be able to take any of the regulated items with them.
For questions or to give feedback, contact Jill Wisehart at jwisehart@agr.wa.gov or 360-878-0298.
Source: Washington State Department of Agriculture
Dear colleagues, On behalf of the Hellenic Society of Phytiatry we would like to invite you to participate in the XX IPP Congress which is going to take place at the Megaron Conference center in Athens Greece, in July 1-5, 2024.The Congress is hosted by the Hellenic Society of Phytiatry in Athens, Greece and organized under the auspices of the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS), and of the Agricultural University of Athens. In an era of the undoubted phenomenon of climate change around the globe, in a period of the vast increase of earth population with immense problems in food security, in a period of enormous pressure on natural resources to meet α vast need for nutritious and safe food, conservation of biodiversity and creating opportunities for economic growth, Plant Protection will play an extremely important universal role in securing human welfare. Management of Crop Loss caused by pathogens and pests is a complicated issue of paramount importance for global agriculture, involving hosts and environment, plus scopious and intense scientific research, political decisions and application of international rules and measures. There is an urgent need for developing ecofriendly and safe biologicals and agrochemicals, pesticides either with nano-formulations. Research is also required to study evolutionary dynamics in reference to climate change, measurements and analysis, modelling of crop loss and predictive modelling. So, there is an urgent need to identify new pests and efficiently cope with diseases or pests threatening global human welfare. Obviously, new pathogen resistant sources in germplasm for confronting destructive pests and diseases are an everyday request by farmers. In an era of the boom of artificial intelligence able in perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, Plant Protection is on the center of international interest. Therefore, the Congress will be consisted of plenary and concurrent sessions of updated information and research data with invited speakers along with oral and poster presentations to cover all plant protection disciplines including plant pathology, entomology, weed science, nematology, plant breeding, technology transfer and relative to plant protection disciplines. Satellite sessions will be also welcomed. Plenary lectures will be among others focused on: Molecular diagnostics for evidence based rational use of pesticides, in the European Green Deal era Enabling sustainable agriculture through understanding and enhancement of microbiomes Applying chemical ecology for environmentally friendly strategies to control insect pests Impact and control of transboundary/invasive banana wilt pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Microbial pesticides: Discovery, piloting and scaling up in Africa Sustainable weed management Coordinated approach for transboundary plant pest and disease management Food security in Africa needs policy support for sustainable plant health management Concurrent Sessions will be generally focus on: Current plant protection problems affecting major regional crops or crops of international significance such as grapevines, olives, citrus, tropical fruit trees, cereals, vegetables, forests etc. will be highlighted. Top scientists will be invited to present updated information on chemical plant protection problems contributing to current advances and alternatives offered by the private sector of agrochemical-pharmaceutical chemistry. Further objectives of the IPPCAthens2024, will be invited lectures and oral presentations on hot research topics and recent developments in Plant Protection sciences directly originating from research translation of molecular plant pest interactions. Scientific contact among young scientists and top research leaders, helping opening research cooperation and contacts with leading research groups around the globe will be promoted and facilitated.
International organizations dealing with food security, food safety and plant health will be welcomed to critically analyze crucial current problems related to world agriculture and propose measures and actions. FAO, EFSA, EPPO and other leading organizations will be invited to participate in this unique Global Plant Protection Congress.
We are confident that as congress organizers will make any effort needed to succeed in organizing a scientifically profitable event and assure you for a memorable stay in Athens Greece. More information regarding the Congress are available at www.ippcathens2024.gr Sincerely yours, The Chairman of the XX IPPCATHENS2024 Eris Tjamos For any further information, do not hesitate to contact Congress Secretariat Panagiotis Georgakopoulos Senior Project Manager Tel: +30 2103250260 email: panagiotis@globalevents.gr
New rules for approving microorganism-based plant protection products coming into effect in November don’t go far enough to lift the regulatory drag on innovation. This will hold back efforts to phase out chemical pesticides
Registering a biocontrol product can take several years longer in the EU compared to the US. Photo: Andriy Medvediuk / Bigstock
New rules on the data required to register microorganism-based plant protection products coming into effect this month should benefit both start-ups and established companies, by speeding up registration and time to market. But the change falls short of the fast-track procedure the industry was hoping for.
The problem biocontrol companies face is that any plant protection products destined for the European market must go through an approvals process that was designed with chemical pesticides in mind.
This can be an awkward fit for products with active ingredients such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa. The new data requirements are intended to tackle this anomaly, tailoring registration procedures for these microorganisms to their biology and ecology.
“The data requirements are a step in the right direction, a bit of biology logic that gets into a legislative system mainly inspired by chemicals, but it is not enough,” Herman Van Mellaert, president of the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA), told the European Parliament in mid-October. “We need further initiatives in terms of Commission guidelines and measures to make [the current regulation covering plant protection products] and these new data requirements work, so that we can get through the system on a fast track.”
A similar sentiment can be heard from start-ups in the field. “In the US, you can register a biocontrol product within 2-3 years, while the same process in Europe takes seven or more years. So, making that quicker, more efficient and simpler will help a lot,” Anna Ogar, co-founder and chief executive of Microbe Plus, told Science Business. “For now, the changes that are proposed for a faster regulatory approval seem like a good idea, but we need to know what the final shape of the law will be.”
The irony is that Europe’s lawmakers and the biocontrol industry should be on the same page. The Commission’s desire to reduce the use of chemical pesticides is written into the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy, and its draft regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, which proposes a 50% reduction target for pesticide use by 2030. Alternatives need to be available on the European market sooner rather than later.
The lengthy process is a particular problem for privately funded start-ups. “Investors do not want to hear that regulatory approval will take several years, even those who may be used to the pharmaceutical sector,” Ogar said. “Shortening that period from 5-7 years to three years will make a space for patient investors. They can be confident that the product will either be positively assessed, or they can terminate it, but either way they will have an answer much earlier in the process.”
Microbe Plus, based in Lublin, Poland, was founded in 2020 and currently has a staff of seven. It is developing a blend of different strains of bacteria that protect against plant pathogens and also act as a stimulant. “By making a blend we try to cover multiple crops, at various stages, and the broadest pathogen spectrum possible,” Ogar said. “So far, we’ve validated our product on more than 50 different pathogens in 20 different crops.”
These strains have been isolated and genetically characterised in-house. “We started with around 2,000 strains and have narrowed it down to 10 that we are working with, and which appear to be the most effective, efficient and, importantly for regulatory approval, have a good safety profile,” Ogar said. “Nowadays, efficiency is less important than safety protocols for newly registered products.”
Over the past few years, Microbe Plus has put its blend through laboratory tests, greenhouse tests, and field trials. “We’ve proved that we can improve yield by 5% to 15%, which is a good result for open field trials.”
So far, this work has been self-funded and supported with grants, the next step is to secure a first funding round. But the cost and complexity of the product registration process that lies ahead means that, like many start-ups in the sector, Microbe Plus cannot afford to work alone.
“For a young company that doesn’t have a track record, it is impossible to secure money for this process, so partnerships, joint ventures or licensing are the only way,” Ogar said. The company is in the process of partnering with a big crop protection producer, which is validating the technology in Europe and the US.
If this feels a little like giving up early on the entrepreneurial dream, there are compensations. One is that it presents an opportunity for the product to have a global impact, far beyond what a start-up could hope to achieve on its own. Another is that industry partnerships are not as one-sided as they once were.
“Nowadays the big corporations are much more open to discussing the possibilities for long-term collaboration with start-ups,” Ogar said. “They realise that buying the intellectual property is one thing, but further development proceeds much faster and more efficiently when the people who had the idea are still on board.”
Regulation holds back innovation
Even established biocontrol companies are hampered by Europe’s registration process, and this is being exacerbated by a parallel demand that they re-register existing products to fit with new EU transparency rules.
According to José Carvalho, regional representative for Europe and the Middle East at the multinational Certis Biologicals, this has resulted in a shift in investment towards keeping current biocontrol technologies on the market, and registering new products that are similar to existing technologies.
“This reduces uncertainty for our boards and our investors, who need to advance millions of euros to bring these products to the market,” he told the European Parliament. “But there will be no innovation if our resources are spent looking at existing technologies.”
The industry sees the need to act quickly, and for the moment has stopped arguing for an entirely new regulation, inspired by biological principles, to oversee its products. “We don’t have the time to wait for a new regulation,” Van Mellaert said. “We have to work with what we have, but there is a lot of potential to work with [the current regulation] in such a way that we create that fast track and enable nature-based solutions to have access to the market.”
One development the IBMA would like to see is provisional authorisation, allowing industry and farmers to get experience using biocontrol products under real world conditions. According to Carvalho, this would be possible under the existing regulation.
The industry also wants to see the tailored data requirements for natural products used as active ingredients, such as substances used to modify the behaviour of insect pests.
Alongside regulatory reform, farmers need help making the transition from synthetic to bio-based products. “It requires from them a better understanding of how biological products work. For example, you have to apply them at a different rate, at different times, and it involves a learning process,” Ogar said.
There is still a level of resistance. “Farmers are afraid that when the biologicals come, they will be less effective, much more expensive, and they will have to apply them multiple times. So, their immediate reaction is to stick to chemicals as long as they can.” This is a challenge that the industry, regulators and governments will have to address together, she adds.
Philippines second country to approve genetically modified eggplant
The Philippines becomes the second country after Bangladesh to approve the commercial cultivation of genetically modified eggplant.
The Bt eggplant, first developed in India, contains a natural protein from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), making it resistant to the eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB), the most devastating insect pest for this crop.
The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquitic and Natural Resources and Development, stated that the Bt protein is safe for humans and animals because it is highly specific to the shoot borer larvae.
Although developed in India, the Bt eggplant is banned in that country.
Australia joins forces with New Zealand and United States to strengthen
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
To further shape science-based international food standards that help protect consumers and support trade, we are partnering with New Zealand and the United States to deliver a two-day South West Pacific Codex Outreach Workshop in New Zealand, on Tuesday 8 November and Wednesday 9 November 2022.
Designed to foster increased engagement and participation in Codex across the region, the workshop is a key opportunity to discuss the needs of the region to ensure standards developed in Codex in the future are reflective of the needs of our region, and make a positive impact on food safety and trade in the Pacific.
Food is one of Australia’s most important exports. We export about 70% of the food we produce.
Codex is the international intergovernmental body, recognised by the World Trade Organisation, that sets food standards to protect the health of consumers and promote fair practices in food trade. It was established by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1962.
Australia, along with 11 other Codex member countries in neighbouring Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu – will meet.
It is important for Codex members from the South West Pacific region to work together on the future for developing standards that affect the global trade in food.
/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).View in full here.
The commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops may get approval in the country after 20 years. These crops are herbicide-tolerant (HT) Bt cotton, called HTBt cotton, and GM mustard. According to highly placed sources, the road to approval of commercial cultivation of these two crops has almost been cleared.
The mere formality of approval from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) remains. As per the information obtained by Rural Voice, the sub-committee appointed by GEAC has submitted its report to the latter. Positive recommendations have been made in this report for the commercial cultivation of HTBt cotton and GM mustard.
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One of the members of the committee says that the cultivation of HTBt cotton has already been going on illegally in the country in about 30 per cent of the area. Seeds are being supplied for the same illegally. Given this, it would be better if it is given approval so that farmers may get seeds of the right quality and seed sellers may be held accountable in case of any defect.
The other crop likely to get GEAC approval is GM mustard. Mustard plays a key role in the supply of edible oils in the country. But we have constantly failed on the front of increasing mustard productivity. Scientists argue for this that the solution lies in giving approval to the cultivation of GM mustard.
Global agricultural exports have more than tripled in value and doubled in volume since 1995, exceeding US $1.8 trillion in 2018. Plant and plant-based products contribute more than 50% to the total trade. International trade in fruits and vegetables stands at 24% followed by 15% cereals; and 10% comprising coffee, tea, cocoa & spices.
This progress was possible by smaller and bigger economies coming together under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade agreement umbrella. Membership was confirmed with the signing of agreements, including the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.
SPS agreement
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement is defined as, “including all relevant laws, decrees, regulations, requirements, and procedures regarding food safety”. It ensures that nations enact health and safety measures based on sound scientific methods. What is more, it sets the framework by which international, regional, and national agencies create and implement SPS standards. Obligations towards its implementation are a crucial step toward enhanced transparency in the trade of agriculture commodities between member countries.
However, the emergence of new and stricter standards for agricultural imports in developed economies has also led to a number of new challenges for developing countries trying to increase their trade as a means for economic growth. Many of these challenges are related to compliance with these rigorous standards. In addition, weak institutional capacities of National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) in the least developed countries (LDCs) for compliance and trade agreement negotiations involving SPS are key factors in limiting the inclusivity of small-scale actors in value chains.
CABI and FAO study
To understand these challenges and take advantage of the opportunities, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CAB International (CABI) are leading a study in the Asia and Pacific region. Entitled “Regional webinar on Opportunities and Challenges in Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures – Modernizing SPS to facilitate agricultural trade in Asia”, it focuses on Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kiribati, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, and Vietnam.
The study’s objective is to understand the status quo and specific challenges for each country. In addition, what SPS requirements would allow the individual countries to meet the requisite compliances and support improved and wider integration into global value chains? The study is being conducted by CABI experts from India, China, Pakistan, the UK, and Kenya.
Understanding the realities
Mr. Gopi Ramasamy (Regional Director, CABI South Asia) stated that despite agriculture contributing significantly to country GDP in most Asia pacific countries, Asia’s share of global trade is still at 20-25%. Intra-regional trade is happening much easier than global trade. The ongoing study will help us to understand the ground realities in the Asia Pacific region in terms of trade and the way forward to augment global trade from Asia through technological and policy interventions.
Dr. Yubak Dhoj GC (FAO RAP, Bangkok) said that FAO through its strategic narrative of supporting the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems and respective programme priority area (PPA) BN5: Transparent markets and trade is committed to improved market transparency and equitable participation in markets, global value chains and international trade that can be achieved through policy coordination and human and institutional capacities for evidence-based decision-making. The commissioned study will identify such issues and opportunities to achieve the objective of PPP for improved transparency and trade.
SPS issue in Asia and Pacific countries
Dr. Vinod Pandit (CABI India), Project Manager for the study stated that “Such barriers or trade restrictions to market access must be understood, removed or complied with, in order for smallholder farmers in these countries to move beyond subsistence agriculture”. He further said that the study has a well-drafted plan to a) analyse & document the issues pertaining to SPS in Asia and Pacific countries, b) Develop a position statement on SPS issues in the region, c) Orientation and introduction of digital tools like PRA, HST, ePhyto, PCE, etc. Dr. Pandit reported that the country reports developed out of this work will serve as a ready reckoner to national and international organizations. The project team also envisages using the outcomes of this study for future implementation in the region.
Study team member Dr. Julie Flood (CABI UK), explained that though countries in the region are having almost uniform issues related to pests, pesticides, and procedural issues, they are at different stages of adoption of SPS agreements and systems (e.g., digital uptake).
Stakeholder motivation
Ms. Kritika Khanna (CABI India), Team manager highlighted the interest and motivations of different in-country stakeholders in being part of this study. She mentioned that as a part of the project, a series of workshops and webinars have been conducted with active participation, meaningful debates, and discussions from a large number of stakeholders. An immediate need was felt to help countries in raising the bar on compliance with international standards and trading partner requirements.
Dr. Shama Praveen (CABI India) who has done an in-depth analysis of the country reports informed that though countries broadly face issues related to pests and MRLs, country trends show significant cases of MRL issues related to pesticides and aflatoxins.
Dr. Hongmei Li (CABI China) team member who worked extensively in South East Asia pointed out that the Asia and Pacific region is making major contributions to agricultural production and export globally. Timely and effective alignment with SPS will effectively reduce unnecessary losses among the international trades. This will improve the incomes of smallholder farmers.
Strengthening infrastructure
There is an urgent need to strengthen infrastructure and capacity building for pests identification and pesticide issues. Dr. Jayne Crozier (CABI UK) team member is of the view that this in-depth study will lead to a better understanding of issues countries in the region are facing. What’s more, critical analysis will help in developing a regional approach to minimizing the issues related to agri-trade.
Dr. Habat Ullah Asad (CABI Pakistan) team member is responsible for documenting and analyzing SPS issues in Pakistan stated that the Pakistani agro-food industry has a high potential for international exports. However, Pakistan is facing problems due to its wider resource and infrastructure constraints that limit not only its ability to comply with SPS requirements but also its ability to demonstrate compliance. However, the establishment of a national SPS authority for SPS stakeholder coordination; capacity building of relevant public, and private stakeholder personnel, and improvement in infrastructure, and storage facilities will help ensure proper SPS compliance from field to destination.
Digital tool implementation
A regional webinar series on digital tools highlighted that country stakeholders are looking forward to orientation, adoption, and implementation of the digital tools in these countries, and are seeking international support to facilitate their installation and usage. Stakeholders are of the view that these tools will largely facilitate agri trade in their country.
The study as a whole will attempt to understand the field level bottlenecks in different countries in Asia that are influenced by various socio-economic, technological and policy level factors. Documenting these challenges and addressing them through subsequent interventions is expected to augment cross-border trade from Asian countries resulting in increased global trade from these economies.
Strict controls on pine and cedar tree imports into Great Britain implemented
Emergency regulation introduced to protect treescapes and strengthen biosecurity following the interception of Pine Processionary MothFrom:Department for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsPublished28 April 2022
Pine processionary moth (Credit – Max Blake, Forest Research).
Emergency legislation restricting the movement of pine and cedar trees into Great Britain to help protect against the imminent threat of the tree pest Pine Processionary Moth has been announced today (Thursday 28 April).
Pine Processionary Moth is present in North Africa and Southern Europe, in particular in Italy. It has also recently been spreading northwards through France. As a result of this legislation, it will no longer be possible to import pine and cedar trees grown in countries where Pine Processionary Moth is established, such as Italy and France. Exceptions apply in cases where Pest Free Areas are designated, or where the trees have been grown under complete physical protection for their lifetime.
The new regulation, in the form of a Statutory Instrument, will strengthen requirements for the import of pine and cedar trees into Great Britain from Friday 29 April. The bolstered measures will only permit imports of these species, both of which are host species of Pine Processionary Moth, from:
Countries officially confirmed by the National Plant Protection Organisation as free of Pine Processionary Moth;
Officially designated pest-free areas;
Nurseries where the trees have been grown under complete physical protection for their lifetime.
The controls apply to all businesses which import living plants and their constituent parts, including live plant foliage and plants for planting, into Great Britain. The restrictions do not apply to processed plant products, such as timber, wood chips and packaging materials.
This action comes following the confirmed interception of Pine Processionary Moth on a small number of pine trees at tree nurseries in England and Wales, imported from France in February this year. Pine Processionary Moth larvae and caterpillars can cause significant damage to pine and other conifer tree species, and pose a risk to human and animal health.
Professor Nicola Spence, UK Chief Plant Health Officer, said:
We have taken authoritative and immediate action to protect tree nurseries and the wider natural environment from the imminent threat of Pine Processionary Moth.
The increasingly globalised plant trade, along with climate change, continue to present new and emerging risks from pests and diseases. Strengthening our rigorous standards of biosecurity – already among the highest in Europe – will both minimise the net potential losses to our existing treescapes and serve to realise our long-term vision for the nation’s trees and woodlands.
Across Great Britain, rapid and robust plant health enforcement action has taken place to prevent the spread of Pine Processionary Moth into the wider environment. The infested trees at the affected nurseries were swiftly contained and destroyed, whilst tracing work to identify other consignments that may be affected is ongoing. Although there is no evidence of pest spread into the environment, increased surveillance and pheromone trapping will be carried out over the summer as a precautionary monitoring measure.
Healthy trees and plants benefit people, the environment, and the economy. Protecting the long-term welfare of our treescapes will underpin Government efforts to treble tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament and plant 30,000 hectares of trees across the UK per year by 2025, as well as form part of wider efforts to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
Fueled by climate change and global trade, the threat from invasive pests to countries in which the pests were not present or previously reported will continue to increase, with many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries expected to be the most vulnerable. Reliable pest management and robust pest control at country borders are critical and go hand in hand with strong agricultural and agribusiness sectors. Strong plant protection regulatory frameworks have an important role to play to facilitate safe trade and help safeguard agriculture. As countries build these regulatory frameworks, they need data and information to drive decision-making. This post explores findings from a technical note funded by USAID’s Office of Market and Partnership Innovations which examined plant protection data available through the World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture Index for Feed the Future focus countries and countries in SSA. We take a particular look at its relevance for the current Fall Armyworm outbreak in Africa and strengthening plant protection systems in the future.
Recap on Fall Armyworm in Africa
Africa continues to battle an outbreak of invasive, transboundary pests including the Fall Armyworm (FAW). This pest was first reported in mainland West Africa (Nigeria, Togo, Benin) and on the island of Sao Tome in early 2016 and is now confirmed in many African countries, including several Feed the Future countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. FAW in Africa has caused significant damage to maize crops in particular. According to a 2017 report by Day et al., annual economic losses in 12 maize-producing African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are estimated to be between $2.5 and $6.2 billion. Invasion by FAW will further impact international trade, since countries where the pest has not yet been detected are expected to place additional production or handling requirements on exports from FAW-affected countries. Affected countries in Africa are prioritizing immediate and long-term solutions to mitigate and contain the devastating impacts of FAW. To learn more about this issue, check out a recent article here.
World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture
The World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) 2017 data, collected across 62 countries, provides important and timely inputs for policymakers as well as private and public sector actors across agricultural and agribusiness value chains. Launched in 2013, the EBA datasets measure and score the strength of the legal and institutional environment for agribusinesses. In 2017, this included 62 economies scored across eight topic indicators including: seed, fertilizer, machinery, finance, markets, transport, water, and information and communications technology. [1] It can support the identification of barriers that impede agricultural sector regulation and growth and provide a way to benchmark, track, and monitor progress and reforms made by countries over time. A subset of the markets data included a Plant Protection Index. For more information, check out the EBA methodology and consult the technical note on Plant Protection Data in Action for a closer look at the EBA Plant Protection Index analysis for Feed the Future focus countries and SSA.
Plant Protection System Strengthening for Prevention and Response to Fall Armyworm in Africa
Many African countries, research institutions, aid organizations, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN have been on the frontlines addressing the FAW invasion. They have implemented many immediate solutions, including ramping up efforts to rapidly identify pests, assess its geographic extent, create awareness, and initiate control responses and measures to contain outbreaks. However, owing to their short-term nature, many of these actions will cease when the pest is no longer considered invasive. And many of these efforts are challenged by the fact that they can only go so far given the limitations of the enabling environment. The data provided through EBA offers important contextual information that could be used to direct multipronged response options and to tailor and prioritize optimal response options for the current enabling environment in a given country.
Moving forward, Feed the Future and SSA countries must strengthen their national plant protection regulatory frameworks to effectively deal with future invasive and transboundary pests and pathogens. By implementing recommended best practices such as rigorous pest surveillance, pest risk analysis and updated lists of quarantined pests, countries can strengthen their plant protection regulation frameworks and their ability to deal with future invasive and transboundary pests.
Illustrative Data-Driven Actions to Strengthen Plant Protection Systems
The following actions were identified as ways African countries can utilize available data and best practices:
Designate a national plant protection unit that will set national standards, guidelines and protocols to implement the phytosanitary systems; conduct pest and plant surveillance; enforce border inspections of plant consignments; create and maintain updated lists of regulated and quarantine pests; and make these lists available to the public and other stakeholders.
Produce yearly reports of the progress African countries make toward improving the key weaknesses identified and increasing their plant protection index scores.
Hold annual or biannual regional technical training workshops. These workshops — facilitated by IPPC staffers together with experts from countries that have strong plant regulatory frameworks — could bring together national plant protection employees, border control staffers and research/university scientists.
The World Bank, in partnership with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and stakeholders like USAID, to create regional online repositories to host resources, tools and other information, including pest identification manuals, lists of regulated quarantine pests, pest databases, border inspection manuals, and any other materials that is related to plant pests including regulated and quarantined pests.
Create harmonized regional protocols and procedures and further establish regional pest diagnostic labs to help in the diagnostics of key regulated pests.
Build pest databases by major crop with accompanying pictures of the listed insects, their host information, life cycle, distribution, current status and available recommended control measures.
Allocate enough funding and resources to designated national agencies, so that they can rigorously and effectively carry out comprehensive pest surveillance. Furthermore, countries should develop coherent and coordinated dissemination of information about pests within and between countries.
Create lists of regulated quarantine pests and upload them both on a national plant protection agency website and the IPPC website.
Countries and national plant protection agencies must obligate landowners to report pest and pest outbreaks, and there must be penalties for failing to comply.
Stay tuned for more from the World Bank EBA team and more useful resources utilizing EBA from the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security projects in posts to follow!
[1] Countries are scored across topic indicators according to their performance against a global ideal or distance to the frontier (DTF) on a scale of 0-100, with a larger DTF score indicating better performance in that area. Topic indicator scores are an average of the DTF score for each of the topic’s 1-5 indicators. See also DTF Scoring Basics Technical Note. Gender, livestock, environmental sustainability and land indicator data were added this year but are available for a more limited set of countries and are not yet scored. Please consult the EBA website for information about the evolution of these indicators as part of EBA.FILED UNDER:MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNINGPOLICY AND GOVERNANCE
Fueled by climate change and global trade, the threat from invasive pests to countries in which the pests were not present or previously reported will continue to increase, with many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries expected to be the most vulnerable. Reliable pest management and robust pest control at country borders are critical and go hand in hand with strong agricultural and agribusiness sectors. Strong plant protection regulatory frameworks have an important role to play to facilitate safe trade and help safeguard agriculture. As countries build these regulatory frameworks, they need data and information to drive decision-making. This post explores findings from a technical note funded by USAID’s Office of Market and Partnership Innovations which examined plant protection data available through the World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture Index for Feed the Future focus countries and countries in SSA. We take a particular look at its relevance for the current Fall Armyworm outbreak in Africa and strengthening plant protection systems in the future.
Recap on Fall Armyworm in Africa
Africa continues to battle an outbreak of invasive, transboundary pests including the Fall Armyworm (FAW). This pest was first reported in mainland West Africa (Nigeria, Togo, Benin) and on the island of Sao Tome in early 2016 and is now confirmed in many African countries, including several Feed the Future countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. FAW in Africa has caused significant damage to maize crops in particular. According to a 2017 report by Day et al., annual economic losses in 12 maize-producing African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are estimated to be between $2.5 and $6.2 billion. Invasion by FAW will further impact international trade, since countries where the pest has not yet been detected are expected to place additional production or handling requirements on exports from FAW-affected countries. Affected countries in Africa are prioritizing immediate and long-term solutions to mitigate and contain the devastating impacts of FAW. To learn more about this issue, check out a recent article here.
World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture
The World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) 2017 data, collected across 62 countries, provides important and timely inputs for policymakers as well as private and public sector actors across agricultural and agribusiness value chains. Launched in 2013, the EBA datasets measure and score the strength of the legal and institutional environment for agribusinesses. In 2017, this included 62 economies scored across eight topic indicators including: seed, fertilizer, machinery, finance, markets, transport, water, and information and communications technology. [1] It can support the identification of barriers that impede agricultural sector regulation and growth and provide a way to benchmark, track, and monitor progress and reforms made by countries over time. A subset of the markets data included a Plant Protection Index. For more information, check out the EBA methodology and consult the technical note on Plant Protection Data in Action for a closer look at the EBA Plant Protection Index analysis for Feed the Future focus countries and SSA.
Plant Protection System Strengthening for Prevention and Response to Fall Armyworm in Africa
Many African countries, research institutions, aid organizations, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN have been on the frontlines addressing the FAW invasion. They have implemented many immediate solutions, including ramping up efforts to rapidly identify pests, assess its geographic extent, create awareness, and initiate control responses and measures to contain outbreaks. However, owing to their short-term nature, many of these actions will cease when the pest is no longer considered invasive. And many of these efforts are challenged by the fact that they can only go so far given the limitations of the enabling environment. The data provided through EBA offers important contextual information that could be used to direct multipronged response options and to tailor and prioritize optimal response options for the current enabling environment in a given country.
Moving forward, Feed the Future and SSA countries must strengthen their national plant protection regulatory frameworks to effectively deal with future invasive and transboundary pests and pathogens. By implementing recommended best practices such as rigorous pest surveillance, pest risk analysis and updated lists of quarantined pests, countries can strengthen their plant protection regulation frameworks and their ability to deal with future invasive and transboundary pests.
Illustrative Data-Driven Actions to Strengthen Plant Protection Systems
The following actions were identified as ways African countries can utilize available data and best practices:
Designate a national plant protection unit that will set national standards, guidelines and protocols to implement the phytosanitary systems; conduct pest and plant surveillance; enforce border inspections of plant consignments; create and maintain updated lists of regulated and quarantine pests; and make these lists available to the public and other stakeholders.
Produce yearly reports of the progress African countries make toward improving the key weaknesses identified and increasing their plant protection index scores.
Hold annual or biannual regional technical training workshops. These workshops — facilitated by IPPC staffers together with experts from countries that have strong plant regulatory frameworks — could bring together national plant protection employees, border control staffers and research/university scientists.
The World Bank, in partnership with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and stakeholders like USAID, to create regional online repositories to host resources, tools and other information, including pest identification manuals, lists of regulated quarantine pests, pest databases, border inspection manuals, and any other materials that is related to plant pests including regulated and quarantined pests.
Create harmonized regional protocols and procedures and further establish regional pest diagnostic labs to help in the diagnostics of key regulated pests.
Build pest databases by major crop with accompanying pictures of the listed insects, their host information, life cycle, distribution, current status and available recommended control measures.
Allocate enough funding and resources to designated national agencies, so that they can rigorously and effectively carry out comprehensive pest surveillance. Furthermore, countries should develop coherent and coordinated dissemination of information about pests within and between countries.
Create lists of regulated quarantine pests and upload them both on a national plant protection agency website and the IPPC website.
Countries and national plant protection agencies must obligate landowners to report pest and pest outbreaks, and there must be penalties for failing to comply.
Stay tuned for more from the World Bank EBA team and more useful resources utilizing EBA from the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security projects in posts to follow!
[1] Countries are scored across topic indicators according to their performance against a global ideal or distance to the frontier (DTF) on a scale of 0-100, with a larger DTF score indicating better performance in that area. Topic indicator scores are an average of the DTF score for each of the topic’s 1-5 indicators. See also DTF Scoring Basics Technical Note. Gender, livestock, environmental sustainability and land indicator data were added this year but are available for a more limited set of countries and are not yet scored. Please consult the EBA website for information about the evolution of these indicators as part of EBA.
The government of Nigeria has granted environmental approval for evaluation and open cultivation of TELA Maize, a new maize variety developed by researchers at the Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, that resists fall armyworm, stem borers, and tolerate moderate drought.
The government’s decision was contained in a certificate issued to IAR by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), the federal government agency mandated to regulate genetically modified products in the country.
The Certificate dated October 8, 2021, with permit code no. NBMA/CM/003, was issued to IAR for General\Commercial Release of TELA Maize Genetically Modified for Drought Tolerance, Resistance to Stem Borer and Fall Armyworm. It comes into effect from October 8, 2021, to October 5, 2024.
A decision document accompanying the certificate from NBMA said that in arriving at the decision to grant the permit, the agency took into consideration the advice of the National Biosafety Committee, the National Biosafety Technical Sub-Committee, and the risk management report provided by the applicant.
“The Agency was convinced that there are no known adverse impacts to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, taking into account risk to human health. The permit, pursuant to this decision, is without prejudice to other extant legal requirements.
“This permit authorises the permit holder and persons covered by the permit to commercialise the TELA Maize genetically modified for drought tolerance and insect resistance,” the decision document from the NBMA stated.
Reacting to the decision, Professor Ishiyaku Mohammed, Executive Director, IAR, said It is really inspiring for IAR to secure NBMA approval for the commercial release of the drought-tolerant and insect-resistant Maize (TELA MAIZE).
“This goes to further highlight IAR’s capacity and commitment to providing effective solutions to agricultural problems facing our farmers and optimizing food security for Nigerians. The approval will open the way to combating the devastating effects of both drought and insect pests through the deployment of this new variety of maize into our farming system.
“The next step is to further evaluate the performance of this new variety by farmers on their fields in all the major maize growing belts in Nigeria. Thereafter we shall seek another approval by the National variety release committee before making the seeds commercially available for farmers to plant in the 2023 cropping season.
Canisius Kanangire, AATF Executive Director, said the approval has shown that Nigeria is really the giant leading the way in Africa and ensuring that smallholder farmers benefit from life-changing technologies that have transformed farming in other parts of the globe.
“The approval by the government of Nigeria is a sign that we are making good progress especially in our quest to expand the options for smallholder farmers on the continent to profit from their labour by using affordable technologies that enhance productivity and reduce incidents of insect pests’ infestation.
“TELA Maize is coming at a time when farmers are spending so much to reduce insect and pest attacks as well as battling with the issue of drought. With TELA Maize, farmers in Nigeria will have relief from frequent constant chemical sprays which affect their health. The saving from chemical use can be converted to address other family needs,” Mr. Kanangire added.
Sylvester Oikeh, AATF TELA Maize Project Manager, said this is the beginning of a new era for maize farmers in Nigeria who have suffered greatly from the twin problem of drought and devastating insect pests occasioned by climate change. The resources and time spent in protecting maize against insect pests will be used for other operations. The maize produced will provide healthier grains for farmers and consumers alike.
Rabiu Adamu, the TELA Maize Principal Investigator, said with the deregulation, the institute is now permitted to conduct multilocation trials to evaluate the yield and adaptability of the TELA hybrids across the different agro-ecologies in Nigeria.
“The highest yielding hybrids exhibiting tolerance to drought and resistance to stem borer and fall armyworm will be released to farmers for cultivation. We hope to register some of the outstanding hybrids to commercialize through Nigerian seed companies for farmers to grow in the 2023 rainy season.
Prof. Adamu added that: “The deregulation will fast-track our work to achieve the mission of the project to avail farmers with transgenic maize to solve the challenges of drought, stem borer, and fall armyworm.
TELA Maize Project in Nigeria is part of an international Consortium coordinated by AATF, involving Bayer, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the National Agricultural Research Systems of seven countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda since 2018. The Project builds on gains from a decade of excellent breeding work to develop conventional climate-smart drought-tolerant maize known as DroughtTEGO varieties.ⓘ
Founded in 2003 to address Africa’s food security prospects through agricultural technology, AATF believes that the agricultural sector is a key foundational pillar as Africa consolidates its economic growth and carves out its new position as a major global economic powerhouse and the next growth market in the world. It was formed in response to the need for an effective mechanism that would facilitate and support negotiation for technology access and delivery and formation of appropriate partnerships to manage the development & deployment of innovative technologies for use by smallholder farmers in SSA:
The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Samaru was established in 1922 as the research division of the Department of Agriculture for the defunct Northern region of Nigeria. IAR was formally transferred by law to the later established Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) on October 14,1962. It is the Institute in Nigeria with the mandate for genetic improvement of crops such as Maize, Sorghum Cowpea, Castor, Cotton, Jatropha, Sunflower, Artemisia and Groundnut and overall farming systems of all crops in Nigeria.
The Philippines becomes the second country after Bangladesh to approve the commercial cultivation of genetically modified eggplant. 
Global Plant Protection News 