G/SPS/GEN/1678  
 
25 February  2019 
(19-1079) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
OUTLOOK ON ECOWAS IM PLEMENTED SANITARY A ND PHYTOSANITARY ACT IVITIES 
DURING THE PERIOD OF  OCTOBER 2018  – MARCH 2019  
COMMUNICATION FROM E COWAS -USAID SENIOR S ANITARY  
AND PHYTOSANITARY (S PS) STANDARDS ADVISO R 
The followi ng communication, received on 22 February 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 a dvance 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 focus will be on the continuity of Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
(SPS) standards.  
1.2.  With reference to 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 October 2018  - March 2019 . 
2  PLANT HEALTH AND PLA NT PROTECTION  
2.1.  The recent introduction of 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 the pest identification, 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 of West Africa, a taskf orce 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  Second West Africa National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPO) and Partners 
Taskforce meeting to address  regional priorities and review of IPPC instruments including 
the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM14) pre -preparation, functioning and 
harmonization of regional priorities, 18 -20 February 2019, Cotonou, Benin  
2.2.  The second annual meeting of the Regio nal Task Force of NPPOs and Partners of West Africa 
was held from 18 to 20 February 2018 in Cotonou, Benin. It was organized by ECOWAS in 
collaboration with the Plant Protection Directorate of Benin, with the participation of representatives 
of NPPO s of all 15 member  States, ECOWAS partner institutions and regional bodies, in particular 
UEMOA, USAID West Africa Office, CILSS, AGRHYMET Regional Center, CORAF, FAO, IITA -Ibadan 
and USDA -APHIS. The objectives were : (i) to review the phyto sanitary situation of c ountries;  
(ii) to discuss the regio nal priorities of the taskforce;  (iii) to identify priority issues on the agenda of G/SPS/GEN/1678  
 
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  the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures CMP14;  (iv) inform participants about TCP/RAF/3705 on 
Strengthening ECOWAS coordination and comm unication on Fall Armyworm 's (Spodoptera 
frugiperda ) monitoring and impact assessment in West African c ountries.  
2.3.  It was noted that significant progress has been made at country level in updating and validation 
of the regulated pests  lists. Further, the priority activities were identified and agreed as well as the 
priority matters of interest for the sub -region on the agenda items to be discussed at the 14th session 
of the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures (CPM14) from 1-5 April 20 19 in Rome, Italy.  
2.1.1   Key recommendations  
2.4.  At the end of this second taskforce meeting, the following recommendations were made:  
• To regional institutions (ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS)  
o Conduct a regional study of countries' phytosanitary capacity, extracted priorities, 
translate them into a regional capacity building project ; 
o Establish and operationalize the regional structures provided for by R egional 
harmonized Regulation C /REG/21/11/10 and operational rules for the safety of 
plants, animals and food in the  ECOWAS region ; 
o Organize the pre -preparation meeting for CMP15 in 2020 ; 
o Strengthen the capacity of NPPOs of member  States on notifications ; 
o Accelerate the process of pesticide registration and availability ; 
o Accelerate the WAPRC operationalization process . 
• To member States  
o Establish and operationalize the national structures provided for in Regulation 
C/REG/21/11/10 harmonizing the structural framework and operational rules for the 
safety of plants, animals and food in the ECOWAS region ; 
o Establish, formalize  and operationalize National SPS Committees , as appropriate ; 
o Accelerate the process of pesticide registration and availability ; 
o Devote more financial resources to phytosanitary and SPS activities . 
2.2  Third States Consultation Meeting for the Establishment and  Animation of the West 
African Pesticide Registration Committee (WAPRC), 19 -24 November 2018, Bamako, Mali  
2.5.  The objectives of this regional meeting were : (i) to validate the harmonized registration tools 
for the establishment of the West African Pesticide R egistration Committee  (WAPRC) in May  2019; 
(ii) to evaluate the implementation status of the roadmap and recommendations of the 
2nd consultation meeting held from 23 -26 May 2018 ; (iii) to review the inputs of Wetland states to 
the draft pes ticide registrat ion application;  (iv) to reach an agreement upon the content of the draft 
application dossiers for the registration and propose their adoption by the three  signatory IGOs of 
the cooperation agreement in the field of pesticides ; (v) to consider the inputs of Wetland states to 
the draft WARPC procedural manual.  
2.6.  The outcomes of this regional meeting were the  following:  
• The content of the registration dossier for pesticides for agriculture use was reviewed and 
inputs provided by Wetland countries. The other f ive documents were not r eviewed because 
of lack of time;  
• The implementation status of the road map was discussed and it was agreed that the inter-
governmental organizations of ECOWAS, UEMOA and CILSS make meaningful inputs into 
the ongoing process for the operationalization of the joint pesticide registration bod y; 
• The meeting requested for member  States to continue reviewing the documents submitted 
and studied at this meeting so as to take into account the views of other national experts;  
• To transmit to th e member  States the harmonized final version of the documents and tools 
after the inputs of member  States before the ef fective implementation of WAPRC;  
• The inputs of the Wetlands to the draft procedure manual was not done due to limited time 
available. How ever, it was agreed that the member  States will review the document during 
the national consultation process early 2019;  
• The draft procedure manual to be finalized during the national consultation meeting in the 
member  States . G/SPS/GEN/1678  
 
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  2.2.1   Key recommendations  
2.7.  The following are the recommendations:  
• To the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development  
o Organize by no later the end of February 2019, consultation meetings in Ghana, 
Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea as part of the implementation of their 
National Committee on Pesticide Manageme nt; 
o Establish rapidly the Coordination Unit provided for by the Tripartite Agreement, no 
later than the end of January 2019, as a pre -requisite for hold ing the first WAPRC in 
May 2019;  
o To support the NCPMs financiall y to organize national retreat workshops to finalize, 
in a short time, the review and validation of the draft documents and tools necessary 
for the joint registration of pesticides.  
• To the ECOWAS Commission  
o Embark on resource mobilization for the implement ation of the Harmonized Pesticide 
Regulation as expressed in the Tripartite Agreement.  
3  FOOD SAFETY AND CAPA CITY BUILDING  
3.1  Aflatoxins reduction in maize and maize by -products in Burkina  Faso (STDF/PG/566)  
3.1.  This is a project grant (STDF/PG/566) with the finan cial support of STDF. It was approved 
during the October 2018 STDF Working Group meeting and implementati on arrangement s are 
ongoing. The  overall objective of this PG is to develop the maize sector with a view to sustainably 
improving its contribution to f ood security, quality and nutritional aspects, access to markets, 
poverty reduction and accelerated growth of the national econo my. The total budget is US$  845,862 
with the contribution of STDF of US$  544,402. 
3.2.  The expected results are:  
• Good practices of production, harvesting, drying and storage of maize adapted to local 
conditions are inventoried and recorded in simple "technological package" fact sheets 
understandable for the actors, edited in French and in another most spoken local language;  
• Critical p oints of technological control leading to the contamination of maize by aflatoxins 
are identified, evaluated and efficient management options are proposed to stakeholders;  
• Producers, collectors, wholesalers, traders, extension and quality control agents, c onsumers 
are informed and trained on good agricultural practices, compliance with Codex standards 
and the quality approach;  
• Burkina Faso's capacity to meet quality requirements for maize (low -level aflatoxin compliant 
with regional and international (Codex ) standards) is strengthened and improved . 
4  CONCLUSION AND WAY F ORWARD  
4.1.  The ECOWAS Commission take this opportunity to thank USAID Regional Office , West Africa, 
USDA, European Union, FAO, AU -IBAR, SADC, EAC and all partners and donors for their continuing 
support in advancing SPS issues in the ECOWAS region and beyond. Also want to call for more 
collaboration, support for future implementation of actions to better addr ess SPS matters in the 
region.  
 
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