CGIAR Initiative: Plant Health and Rapid Response to Protect Food Security and Livelihoods <p class="ql-align-justify">Effective plant health management is critical for improving the productivity, profitablity, sustainability and resilience of agri-food systems and for realizing genetic gains from improved varieties. Yet, farming communities, especially in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), continue to struggle against an array of pest and disease incursions/outbreaks. Each year, crop pests and diseases&nbsp;cause 10 to 40% losses to major food crops<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">1</span>,&nbsp;costing&nbsp;the global economy US$220 billion<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">2</span>, severely impacting food/feed security, safety and nutrition<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">3</span>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;thus hampering realization of several Sustainable Development Goals&nbsp;(SDGs)<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">4,5</span>. Recent analyses<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">1,6</span>&nbsp;have shown that the highest losses due to plant health threats are in the food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations.&nbsp;The impacts of plant&nbsp;pests and diseases (P&amp;D)&nbsp;are not limited to yield&nbsp;losses;&nbsp;in reality, all components of food security&nbsp;(food production, access,&nbsp;and&nbsp;utilization)&nbsp;are&nbsp;severely&nbsp;affected<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">7</span>.&nbsp;Moreover, mycotoxin contamination above permissible limits in crop produce is significantly affecting food safety, nutrition, public health, and trade<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">8,9,10</span>. Chronic exposure to mycotoxins is associated with significant health burden, especially child growth impairment<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">11</span>&nbsp;to increased mortality rates<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">12</span>.&nbsp;Increased trade and travel coupled with weak phytosanitary systems that lack capacity to effectively monitor soil-, seed- and , air-borne and insect-vectored diseases and pests have accelerated the global spread of invasive plant health threats<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">13</span>. The situation is exacerbated by the effects of a changing climate and farming systems, driving the emergence and scale of new threats<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">14,15</span>. Emerging plant health threats (e.g., Fall armyworm<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">16,17,18</span>; Foc TR4<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">19</span>) pose serious challenges in protecting the food security and livelihoods of millions of smallholders. The burden of all this&nbsp;is&nbsp;disproportionately&nbsp;borne by&nbsp;women and poorly resourced communities.&nbsp;Women, being very active in the area of plant health management,&nbsp;have to&nbsp;be active partners in solving the issues.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The lack of robust diagnostic capacity, global-scale surveillance system, and data sharing for risk assessment of major pests/diseases, alongside weak early warning, rapid response and management systems, are major issues that need to be tackled to improve plant health at a global scale<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">20</span>.&nbsp;Over the past decades, there has been a significant weakening of NARES in several countries in handling crop health in an effective and sustainable way; for example, across tropical Asia, IPM on rice, once a resounding victory, has become forgotten in many countries.&nbsp;Integrated&nbsp;Pest and&nbsp;Disease&nbsp;Management&nbsp;(IPDM)&nbsp;is&nbsp;knowledge-intensive, and requires significant efforts on capacity building to help farmers understand the principles and implement relevant practices<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">21</span>; without this,&nbsp;smallholders and marginalized communities&nbsp;will be&nbsp;unprepared or poorly equipped to respond to the biotic threats.&nbsp;Private sector can play a significant role in sustainable adoption of plant health innovations, yet their engagement is not optimal in many LMICs<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">22</span>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Environmental effects of excessive use and misuse of pesticides<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">23</span>,&nbsp;such as loss of biodiversity of beneficial insects (natural enemies of pests, insect pollinators and organic recyclers)<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">24,25</span>, and acute unintentional pesticide poisoning of humans<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">26</span>&nbsp;are of major concerns globally, but especially in developing countries with weak&nbsp;national policies.&nbsp;Ecofriendly and natural IPDM options that minimize the dependence on synthetic pesticides need to be&nbsp;better assessed and used at scale. Despite its scientifically sound principles, IPDM continues to have low adoption rates worldwide due to several critical gaps<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">27,28</span>, including lack of access to affordable technologies/innovations, especially to women and disadvantaged groups, weak regulations and compliance, inadequate policy<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">29</span>&nbsp;and institutional support<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">30</span>, suboptimal public-private partnerships<span style="color: rgb(0, 112, 192);">22</span>, and underinvestment in validation, capacity development, promotion and scaling of plant health innovations.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>