The 31st meeting of the IPPC Technical Consultation among the Regional Plant Protection Organizations Held in Nigeria

21 October 2019, Abuja ─ The 31st meeting of the IPPC Technical Consultation (TC) among the Regional Plant Protection Organizations (RPPOs) was held from 21st to 25th October, 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting was organized by the Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (IAPSC) and facilitated by the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), with the presence of nearly 40 participants and observers from 7 RPPOs, IPPC Secretariat, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), the FAO Nigeria Office, and Nigerian NPPO.

The meeting was opened by Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nigeria Dr. Mohammed Bello Umar, with welcome addresses delivered, respectively, by the IAPSC Director Mr Jean Gerard Mezui M’ella, the FAO Officer of Nigeria Ms Adeola Alcinrinlola, and the IPPC Secretary Mr. Jinyuan Xia. Mr Jean Gerard Mezui M’ella was elected as Chair of the meeting, Ms Juliet Goldsmith from CAHFSA as Vice-Chair, and Mr Visoni Timote from PPPO as Rapporteur. The whole meeting was facilitated by Ms Sarah Brunel, Implementation Officer of the IPPC Secretariat.

The RPPOs discussed the draft Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure for the TC-RPPO and concluded that it was in the first place important for them to clarify what they want and expect from the TC, which should then be compliant with the legal texts and FAO obligations.

The RPPOs presented an update on their activities by detailing: 1) Specificities of their RPPO; 2) Technical and capacity development achievements; 3) Emerging pests and issues; 4) Surveillance projects and activities and; 5) Proposal for further collaboration. All RPPOs agreed on the 2019-2020 work plan summarizing all actions and including responsible person, timing and description of each action.

As part of Pest Outbreak and Alert and Response Systems, a model presented by the EPPO representative was tested with concrete pests selected by RPPOs, such as Fusarium oxysporum c. sp. cubense TR4, Fall Armyworm (FAW), Huanglongbing (HLB), Xyllela, Phytophtora ramorum, Water Hyacinth to evaluate for its usefulness in setting global and regional priorities for emerging pests. The RPPOs and the IPPC Secretariat will rework the decision tree involving formulating the questions and adding environmental and trade impact and present the model to the next TC-RPPO.

The RPPOs also exchanged information concerning activities conducted or planned by the IPPC and decided to enhance the engagement of RPPOs in these activities. These included: IPPC e-Phyto, the activities on the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), National Reporting Obligations, the Implementation and Review Support System (IRSS) and related studies, the 2019 IPPC Regional Workshops, EPPO PRA platform, and the 2020-2030 IPPC Strategic Framework.

The next TC-RPPO will be convened in Rome after CPM-15 (2020) for 3 days on 6-8 April 2020.

A selection of photos from the event is available here.