Paul Mayaka

As you may all be aware, the Government of the Republic of Zambia and that of the People’s Republic of China, on 21st July, 2022, signed two (2) trade protocols for the export of Soyabeans meal and Stevia dry leaves from Zambia to China. The Ministry of Agriculture views this development as a great opportunity with a potential to increase production of  Soyabean and stevia in Zambia. In order to ensure that stakeholders are well informed about the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements contained in the two protocols, the Ministry of Agriculture through the department of Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service (PQPS) and department of Agribusiness and Marketing (ABM), organised a stakeholders awareness meeting which took place on the 5th of August, 2022 at Government Complex in Lusaka, Zambia. Present was the Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary (MOA-PS), Director Agribusiness and Marketing (ABM), Director Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service(PQPS), Stakeholders from various companies and members of staff from both Agribusiness and Marketing (ABM) and Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service (PQPS).   

© FAO/Sebastian Liste Posted on Thu, 26 May 2022, 14:17 Rome, 13 May 2022. The Standards Committee (SC) of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) approved two draft ISPMs and one draft specification for the consultation period. The virtual meeting was held on 9-11 and 13 May 2022, where the SC also elected a new Chairperson. The SC submitted the following draft specification to the IPPC contracting parties for country consultation: -Revision of ISPM 26 (Establishment of pest free areas for fruit flies (Tephritidae)) (2021-010); and the following draft ISPMs for the first consultation: -Draft Annex Criteria for determining host status of fruit to fruit flies based on available information (2018-011) to ISPM 37 (Determination of host status of fruit to fruit flies (Tephritidae)); -Draft 2022 Amendments to ISPM 5 (Glossary of phytosanitary terms) (1994-001). Given the challenges faced using a virtual medium to develop the draft Annex *Design and use of systems approaches for phytosanitary certification of seeds (2018-009) to** ISPM 38 (International movement of seeds), the SC formed a working group to focus on this draft standard separately. This group will present a more elaborated version of this draft annex for further discussion at the SC meeting in November 2022. The SC also updated the List of Topics for IPPC Standards, where it assigned new stewards for the Technical Panel on Commodity Standards (Samuel Bishop, United Kingdom) and the Technical Panel for the Glossary (TPG) (Alvaro Sepulveda Luque, Chile). Furthermore, the SC reviewed the outcomes of the 16th Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-16), where they invited the TPG to consider the term “emerging pest” for inclusion in ISPM 5, as suggested by the Pest Outbreak Alert and Response Systems Focus Group (FG) for this definition. The SC selected Sophie Peterson (Australia) as the SC representative for the recently established CPM FG on the Safe Provision of Food and Humanitarian Aid. The Committee also discussed updates from the Secretariat’s units, among other updates, and the next steps on the IPPC Strategic Framework 2020-2030. The newly selected Chairperson, Ms Peterson, thanked the acting SC Chair, Ezequiel Ferro (Argentina), for his excellent service. In addition, Ms Peterson said that “Mr Ezequiel Ferro has been an exceptional leader of the SC for two terms. Working with him has been a pleasure and learning experience. I am grateful to the SC members for their support and confidence in me, and I look forward to progressing the committee’s work program with my SC colleagues and the IPPC Secretariat”. Mr Ferro also extended his best wishes to the new SC Chairperson and stressed the necessity for the SC to work collaboratively and comprehensively to produce effective and long-lasting results in the IPPC Standard Setting Process. “It has been an honor to be a member of the Standards Committee all these years as well as to serve as its Chairman. It is one of the greatest privileges that I have had to take on in my work and professional activity. I want to express my sincere gratitude to the excellent colleagues with whom I have worked at the SC, as well as to all the staff of the IPPC Secretariat. Finally, I wish Sophie Peterson, the new SC Chair, all the best”, said Mr Ferro. The SC welcomed their new member, Matías Gonzalez Buttera (Argentina), who will start his term after the SC-7 2022 virtual meeting. The Call for nominations for the CPM FG on Safe Provision of Food and Other Humanitarian Aid has been launched. Please visit the “Calls for nominations for CPM Focus Groups” web page for more information: https://www.ippc.int/core-activities/governance/cpm/cpm-focus-group-reports/calls-for-nominations-for-cpm-focus-groups/. The next SC virtual focused meeting is tentatively scheduled for 13-14 July 2022. The meeting report will be available on the IPPC SC web page: https://www.ippc.int/core-activities/standards-setting/standards-committee/.

© FAO/Ezequiel Becerra Posted on Thu, 26 May 2022, 14:15 Rome, 19 May 2022. The Standards Committee Working Group (SC-7) approved four standards for the second consultation during its virtual meeting. The SC-7 meeting was held on 16-19 May 2022 to examine substantive comments from the first consultation on the draft International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) and revised them as needed. The following draft standards were approved for the second consultation: -Revision of ISPM 4 (Requirements for the establishment of pest free areas) (2009-002), Priority 4 -2021 Amendments to ISPM 5 (Glossary of phytosanitary terms) (1994-001), Priority 1 -Annex on Use of Specific Import Authorizations to ISPM 20 (Guidelines for a phytosanitary import regulatory system) (2008-006), Priority 4 -Revision of ISPM 18 (Requirements for the use of irradiation as a phytosanitary measure) (2014-007), Priority 1 The SC-7 supports the work of the Standards Committee (SC) in the detailed consideration of draft ISPMs and specifications. The SC-7 comprises seven members (one from each region) that the SC selected from its membership. The next SC-7 meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place in May 2023. The meeting report will be available on the IPPC SC web page: https://www.ippc.int/core-activities/standards-setting/standards-committee/.–

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2022, 08:02 Rome, 17 May 2022. The Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC) of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) held a virtual open session for the first time for the wider IPPC community to raise awareness on various phytosanitary projects. The annual IC meetings have traditionally been organized for a closed group of IC members and a limited number of invited observers including project submitters. These meetings aim to collect, analyze and share information on implementation and capacity development (ICD) projects. This year, however, the IC has agreed to open the session to the wider phytosanitary community to include national and regional plant protection organizations (NPPOs, RPPOs), international organizations and other stakeholders. This new open format session focused on raising awareness about examples of phytosanitary projects that are underway at national, regional and global levels, including projects managed by the IPPC Secretariat. The IPPC Secretariat currently manages eight projects. The funders of these projects include the government of China, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat, the European Commission (EC), the Government of Japan, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), and the World Bank Group. During this session, eight projects implemented at regional and national levels were presented by NPPOs, international organizations and national institutions. These presentations were of great interest to participants, with a wide range of content of phytosanitary areas, such as sterile insect technique, pest resistance plants, pesticide management, surveillance, diagnostic networking, integrated pest management, pest free area, and risk-based pest management. Participants shared their experiences, engaged in brief dialogue exchanges about the topics, and held a question and answer session for clarification about the presentation. “I believe that this session, the first of its kind, will help the wider plant health community understand the initiatives that the IPPC Secretariat is working on, particularly in implementation of the Convention, as well as in developing the capacity of our target audience. It will also establish a good tradition of organizing similar sessions in the future for the IPPC community,” said Osama El-Lissy, IPPC Secretary. It is expected that the session will continue to be held openly and will become an opportunity to exchange information on phytosanitary projects. A recording of the session is available at: https://www.ippc.int/en/news/workshops-events/webinars/ic-meeting-open-session-on-icd-projects/