G/SPS/GEN/1702  
 
25 June 2019  
(19-4286) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
OUTLOOK ON ECOWAS -IMPLEMENTED SANITARY  AND PHYTOSANITARY A CTIVITIES 
DURING THE PERIOD OF  MARCH – JUNE 2019  
COMMUNICATION FROM E COWAS -USAID SENIOR S ANITARY  
AND PHYTOSANITARY (S PS) STANDARDS ADVISO R 
The followi ng communication, received on 24 June  2019, is being circulated at the request of 
the Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS).  
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The USAID/West Africa Regional Mission works to support the Economic Community of West  
African States (ECOWAS) to advance their vision to create an economic union and common market. 
In line with this objective ECOWAS is implementing many agreements designed to support the free 
movement of goods and people throughout the region. In standards , a USAID/West Africa: Cost 
Reimbursement Implementation Letter no 2 signed between CILSS and USAID/West Africa, was 
extended. It is through this agreement  that focus will be on the continuity of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary (SPS) standards.  
1.2.  With reference t o the approved 2018 -2019 work plan and in view of improving and 
strengthening SPS activities in the ECOWAS region , the following activities were implemented during 
the period of March  – June 2019. 
2  PLANT HEALTH AND PLA NT PROTECTION  
2.1.  The recent introduction o f the fall armyworm (FAW) as well as the discovery of the new alien 
invasive pest identified in West Africa and its growing threat to agriculture and food security have 
caused much concern in about 44 countries in the sub -Saharan region , including 15 West African 
countries. The FAW is  a crop-destroying worm and can cause high damage to maize, rice, sorghum, 
vegetables. These attributes have made the control of FAW a challenging task. There have been 
efforts to sensitize, build capacity for pest identificati on, knowledge sharing, etc. Overall, 
development of long -term management options has mobilized international experts and the national 
capacities of affected countries and raised general attention to caterpillar attacks on various crops. 
In the sub -region o f West Africa, a taskforce of National Plant Protection Officers and partners of 
West Africa sub -region was established to ensure joint management of the pest and others . 
2.1  Strengthening the monitoring, prevalence and impact of Fall Armyworm (FAW) at the 
country level in West Africa: Experiences, Options and Solutions  
2.2.  FAO has also put in place various monitoring, risk measurement, impact and dashboard 
decision support tools to monitor and warn about the FAW situation , and to map it by linking it to 
agricultur al practices, ecology and natural enemies. In line with the monitoring, joint missions (FAO -
ECOWAS -CILSS) were organized and highlighted key findings and challenges that were presented 
to RPCA in Banjul in December 2018.  
2.3.  To overcome these challenges, a fou r-day workshop was jointly planned and organized in 
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 15 April to 18  April 2019, at the Azalai Hotel, to build capacity on the 
measurement of prevalence, risk, impact on food security and livelihoods, and the development of G/SPS/GEN/1702  
 
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  decision support dashboards. This workshop aims to promote the sharing of information and 
experiences between the countries concerned and to work on the drafting of a country action plan 
for 17 countries (Guinea Bissau, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon , Côte d'Ivoire , 
The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Chad, Togo) 
from West Africa and Sahel with more than 40 participants.  
2.4.  Following the training, countries have developed draft national action plan s for the 
implementation of key activities to control FAW and sustain actions at national level. 
The development of regional holistic programme for "Plant pest control program in West Africa with 
emphasis on fight against Fall Armyworm"  was also suggested.  
2.5.  The following key recommendations were made:  
• To Country and Region  
o Draft country action plan finalized with consultation and contribution of all national 
stakeholders concerned ; 
o Effective implementation of FAW tracking tools: FMEWS, FAW risk, FAW impact and 
Dashboard ; 
o Dashboards in countries and at regional level (once per season and or twice if 
possible) developed ; 
o National task forces should be formalized and made operational in all ECOWAS and 
Sahel countries ; 
o Term of reference to guide the estab lishment of National Task Forces developed . 
• To FAO HQ (TCE) and Region  
o Support to countries for the implementation of action plans (Fonds HQ and AfDB) 
provided. It is important to note that in the short time (May  - December 2019), 
support is being provided  by FAO to Benin and Burkina Faso for USD$  80,000 and 
USD$  60,000, respectively ; 
o The regional holistic programme for "Plant pest control program in West Africa with 
emphasis on fight against Fall Armyworm " developed and submitted to African 
Development Ban k (AfDB) (USD$  50,000,000).  
2.2  Training workshop on development and monitoring of phytosanitary inspection and 
pest identification guides  
2.6.  The training was attended by 33 participants from: ECOWAS member States (14 countries 
present): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, C ôte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, 
Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Ghana (not present).  
2.7.  The training aims : (i) to build the technical capacities of phytosanitary border inspectors to 
develop and monitor phytosanitary inspection and pest identification guides; (ii) to establish a 
technical working group, as a forum for exchanges between countries, to develop ha rmonized 
template guides for phytosanitary inspection and pest identification to be presented at the next 
annual regional Taskforce and partners meeting.  
2.8.  The workshop was a training one which combined theorical and practical field work on pest 
identificati on in the laboratory at the University of Nangui Abrogua, Abidjan, C ôte d'Ivoire. Further , 
a draft document of harmonized guidelines for import/export inspection was developed. A working 
group was established to continue working on the draft harmonized gui delines for import/export 
inspection. This draft will be finalized by November 2019. Once finalized, the harmonized guidelines 
will be disseminated for implementation at country level.  
2.9.  The following key recommendations were made :  
• To ECOWAS Commission  
o the drafting and finalization of the harmonized guidelines for import/export 
inspection in the EOWAS sub -region supported and coordinated ; 
o leadership and coordination for strengthening regional border inspection provided ; 
o member States supported to finalize th eir regulated pest list and ensure publication 
of the lists on IPPC website ; G/SPS/GEN/1702  
 
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  o to continue to work with financial and technical partners to mobilize funds for 
sustaining actions on plant health in the ECOWAS sub -region ; 
o to advocate with high level policy mak ers in the ECOWAS member states to prioritize 
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues ; 
o to engage high level policy makers on the negative impact of SPS issues on 
agricultural production and productivity, safety issues and impact of 
national/regional economy and the need to invest in SPS issues and capacity building 
towards compliance with international standards.  
3  FOOD SAFETY AND CAPA CITY BUILDING  
3.1  Codex trust funds countries achievements  
3.1.  In 2017, it was noticed that many ECOWAS membe r states were not able to apply for the first 
round (2015) of application due to many reasons , including the application process, difficulties in 
conducting national consultation and scientific assessment and be able to fill the application form 
and comply  with the general criteria as highlighted above. Most importantly, the low rate of success 
is mostly due to the lack of real and functional national Codex structures in Africa in general and in 
ECOWAS member countries in particular.  
3.2.  In view of addressing t hat gap, a capacity building training workshop was organized in Banjul, 
The Gambia, in September 2017 with the support of USAID and technical training provided to 
national Codex contact points and national WTO SPS focal point of the wider community of the 
15 ECOWAS member States. There have been also bilateral refresher trainings and advice provided 
through emails exchange and telephone calls to Codex contact point in the various member States 
before final submission to the CTF3 (round 3, 2018).  
3.3.  Despite the  challenges at country level for the application process as described above, Ghana 
and Senegal were successful for their application during the CTF round 1 (2015). Success stories 
and best practices from the two countries formed the basis of the technical training.  
3.4.  The following table 1 highlights the current status of the impacts of the capacity building 
training provided and the total amount mobilized for the region was USD$ 1,629,796. Overall, 
following the technical training ten countries were successfu l with their applications benefiting 
support from the Codex Trust Funds (CTF) in order to strengthen their national Codex committee, 
involvement and engagement in Codex  work.  
3.5.  This result is impressive,  and efforts should continue to get the other five countries of the 
region to benefit from the CTF in order to impact the entire community and ascertain the 
effectiveness of countries involvement and in a sustainable manner in Codex  work and SPS activities 
at large.  
Table 1. Impact of the technical training pr ovided in relation to the application for Codex 
trust fund  
No Country  Title of project  Period of 
implementation  Cost USD$ 
(support 
of CTF)  
1 Ghana  Provision of Support to the 
implementation of a program to build 
strong national capacity for effective 
engagement in the work of the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission  2016-2019 100,000  
2 Senegal  Improved knowledge and recognition of 
Codex Alimentarius standards to increase 
the compliance and competitiveness of 
food commodities on local, regional and 
international markets  2017-2019 150,000  
3 Burkina 
Faso Revitalization of the Burkina Faso 
National Codex Alimentarius Committee 
(CNACA)  2018-2020 151,922  G/SPS/GEN/1702  
 
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  No Country  Title of project  Period of 
implementation  Cost USD$ 
(support 
of CTF)  
4 Cabo Verde  Strengthening the National Codex 
Program in Cape Verde by the Codex 
Trust Fund II  2019-2021 181,935  
5 Guinea 
Conakry  Strengthening Codex in Guinea Conakry  2018-2021 211,010  
6 Mali Strengthening national Codex committee 
in Mali  2019-2021 150,000  
7 Benin  Supporting participation in the work of 
the Joint FAO / WHO Codex Alimentarius 
Commission  2020-2022 240,829  
8 Côte 
d'Ivoire  Strengthening national Codex committee 
in Côte d'Ivoire  2020-2022 150,000  
9 The Gambia  Strengthening of the national Codex 
committee and enhancing awareness on 
Codex work  2019-2022 150,000  
10 Nigeria  Strengthening national Codex structure 
of Nigeria and enhancing participation in 
Codex work 2019-2022 144,100  
 TOTAL MOBILIZED FOR THE REGION  1,629,7961 
 
3.6.  The above describe the outcome of the technical support to ECOWAS member States improve 
participation in the Codex work and particularly contributed to helping each Member State to re -
dynamizing their national Codex committee. However, there have been challenges as countries are 
not at the same level of development. These challenges include : 
• Limited number/inexistence of qualified human capital to capture and translate the acquired 
knowledge into practice;  
• Frequent turn -over of government staffs as well as the change of government have made it 
difficult in some selected member States;  
• Limited/availabi lity of fund to organize in -country bilateral physical refresher trainings;  
• Weak participation of the member States in Codex work and SPS activities.  
3.7.  In view of monitoring the effective implementation, impact and sustainability of these initiatives 
at coun try level, the following recommendations could be formulated : 
• Strengthening advocacy for increased investment in the food safety and sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures (SPS);  
• Awareness creation among all stakeholders on the importance of Codex work, food safety, 
SPS and its implication for public health and international, regional and national trade;  
• Creation of conducive environment for the implementation of international/regional technical 
regulations, codes of practices, recommendations related to food safety and SPS;  
• Supporting capacity building activities in food safety and SPS within and beyond the region;  
• Supporting effective and active participation of representative from member States in the 
international standards setting processes and implementat ion (Codex, OIE, IPPC, WTO SPS);  
• Supporting effective coordination of activities at regional and national levels ; 
• Supporting implementation of refresher trainings in order to update targeted stakeholders 
on the new development and keep the momentum ; 
• Scaled  up the training and capacity building to other Codex  regions.  
4  GENERAL CONCLUSION AND WAY F ORWARD  
4.1.  The ECOWAS Commission take this opportunity to thank USAID Regional Office , West Africa, 
USDA, European Union, FAO, African Development Bank (AfDB), World Ban k Group, AU-IBAR, SADC, 
EAC and all partners and donors for their continuing support in advancing SPS issues in the ECOWAS 
                                                
1 Benin, C ôte d'Ivoire, The Gambia and Nigeria were the last countries to be successful (2019). The CTF 
secretariat will be in contact with each of these member States to finalize their plan and budget. Therefore, the 
total mobilized for the region may be reduced slightly.  G/SPS/GEN/1702  
 
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  region and beyond , and also want to call for more collaboration, support for future implementation 
of actions to better addr ess SPS m atters in the region.  
 
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