Plant Health Phytosanitary Program: West Africa (2019-2022)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a strong and diverse partnership of 15 countries in West Africa. ECOWAS maintains a taskforce of regional partners and NPPOs working on strengthening capacity and coordination in SPS topics.  

AFSI is providing technical assistance to the West Africa region to increase governmental capacity to meet international phytosanitary standards. The project provides technical training to the National Plant Protection Officers (or their delegates), supports international collaboration among member countries. AFSI works to enhance the ability for West Africa to work collectively as a region to harmonize standards and procedures to better facilitate trade. These efforts will help West African countries protect human, plant and animal health, and achieve their objectives under the African Continental Free Trade Area and contributions to the African Union’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Policy Framework for Africa.

AFSI Objectives

• Provide regional assistance to ECOWAS countries to accomplish objectives and activities laid out in the ECOWAS Regional Action Plan,
• Provide technical assistance to ECOWAS member states to enable their capacity to harmonize import and export inspection procedures and protocols in West Africa, and improve coordination for regional harmonization and compliance with international standards and regional participation in setting international standards.
• Develop guidance documents and other communication materials on improving regional phytosanitary systems that can be shared widely across the continent

AFSI Activities

• Training of NPPOs on identification, detection, pest surveillance and response to invasive pests
• Training on risk-based inspections and phytosanitary certification
• Training on conducting quarantine treatments and application, including instruction on conducting treatments safely
• Strengthening information sharing among the NPPOs within the region
• Developing standard operational procedures (SOPs) for phytosanitary measures