Ecowas calls for improved quality of agro-based products

ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Ousseini Salifou, has stressed the need for ECOWAS Member States to improve on the quality of their agro-based products with the aim of increasing national and intra-Community trade.

The Commissioner was addressing the opening of a six-day "sensitization workshop on the creation and/or strengthening of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) Committees and training of trainers on science-based arguments" on Monday, 28th February 2011 in Bamako. The workshop seeks to raise awareness on the PAN-SPSO project and the issue of participation of African countries at international standards-setting meetings. PAN-SPSO is a three-year collaboration project between the European Union, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat, the African Union Commission and the regional economic communities (RECs). The project involves 47 ACP countries and is being implemented in partnership with seven regional economic communities (RECs).

The workshop is also to raise awareness on the need to strengthen and/or establish National Committees on SPS as well as enhance participants' knowledge on how to develop and review standards and mechanisms for contributions from Member States. Mr. Salifou told the participants that while it was mandatory to meet international requirements on standards towards the export of products from West Africa, attention should also be paid to the same standards in order to increase national and regional trade and make them more competitive. While recalling the December 2005 adoption of the regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP), which emphasizes food and nutritional security, Mr. Salifou stated that ECOWAS' pre-occupation with issues relating to Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards has led to the adoption of such decisions and regulations as seeds and pesticides, fertilizers, veterinary products and pharmaceutical products. He added that efforts were on-going to adopt regulations on bio-safety and bio- technology.

The Commissioner however said there was still much work to be done on SPS, noting that some of the national committees in some Member States were either non-existent or non-functional. This, he attributed this to poor funding and lack of training, among others. He particularly noted the poor synergy between the national focal points and other stakeholders, including the private sector and national agencies involved in SPS matters. He said one of the objectives of the workshop was to build adequate capacity in the region, especially for producers' associations, which he described as the starting point in the SPS value chain as well as those who represent Member States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international meetings, advancing West Africa's common position. In her opening address, the Malian Minister in charge of Livestock and Fisheries, Mrs. Diallo Madeleine Ba, noted that Bamako hosted the first training of trainers' session in February 2010. She said it was the responsibility of those trained to communicate and share their knowledge on the SPS in the region. While stressing the importance of the workshop, the minister said that given the strategic role of the RECs in Africa, ECOWAS experts should play a leadership role in the implementation process of the project in the region. She expressed confidence that the workshop would achieve its objectives, considering the involvement of experts of note from ECOWAS, the AU and WTO.

Earlier in his address, the Director of the African Union Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) recalled the financing agreement signed on 7th September 2007 between the European Union and the ACP Secretariat on behalf of the RECs and stated that the project seeks the effective participation of African countries at World Trade Organization's SPS committees. The AU-IBAR director who was represented by the Coordinator of PANSPSO, Dr. Raphael Colly, disclosed that the project has, in the past two years, been organizing continental meetings for AU focal points in Member States. He said the AU meetings were essentially to train Member States on the international mechanisms on SPS matters, harmonize and coordinate efforts for better complementarities as well as involve the various stakeholders in the SPS process. He said involving stakeholders was important as it allowed national governments to financially support the project, and the private sector which could be relied on to help meet the standards proposed at the international level.