A five-day Regional Training Workshop on Information Exchange and International Exchange and Phytosanitary Portal has ended in Accra.

The workshop afforded 21 Senior Plant Protection Officers drawn from the English Speaking Countries of Botswana, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, ,Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Leostho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe opportunity for intensive training on accessing global information on agricultural pests and other relevant information on plant protection from the portal, which is a website of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) secretariat.

Earlier on, in his address to participants, Mr. Oloche Anebi Edache, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, said the collaborative efforts of the FAO, the IPPC Secretariat, the Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (IAPSC) and African Union to organize the workshop underscores the importance attached to effective plant protection activities in Africa.

He said many National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOS) have been using sanitary and Phytosanitary Information to assist in their bio-security decision making process.

The private sectors in other countries have also used this information in negotiating for agricultural export commodities, he added.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. W. Nii Okai Hammond, in his opening address expressed his greatest appreciation for the organization of the workshop and thanked the FAO and the IPPC Secretariat for their joint capacity building activities and the increasing strength between the two organisations saying that collaboration does not mean much without joint activities. He outlined the importance of the workshop and its benefit adding that in this era of information technology, the role of information exchange and the mode of information movement are of paramount importance for decision making and capacity building in various areas of concern.

He said the establishment and the availability of the International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP) facility will enhance and strengthen the capacity of contracting parties to communicate efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner with the IPPC Secretariat, and even more importantly between and among IPPC members, especially between trading partners.

In his statement said that this workshop is hoped that the national capacity of the contracting parties of this region will be strengthened since participants will be trained in the use of the IPP, and how to access official information for use in the Phytosanitary decision making process. This should enhance participants competency in their endeavour to adhere to and fulfil the obligations required.

It is my hope that this training workshop will assist in providing a positive direction towards enhanced information sharing and more interaction especially among African countries. I also trust that the workshop will address the issue of collection, processing and storage of relevant information to provide a database that will serve the information sharing system.

Dr. Jan Breithaught, the Coordinator also observed that the workshop would enable members of the IAPSC to meet their basic National Information Exchange obligations under IPPC.

Participants had very positive impressions. One said it was the best training he ever had, while another expressed his new found professional strength in accessing global pest information for the benefit of his country’s plant protection services.