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"The spread of transboundary plant pests and diseases has increased dramatically, affecting food crops, causing significant losses to farmers and threatening food security," said Dr Emmanuel NJUKWE, CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation. 

Dr NJUKWE was speaking at a public forum organized in a hybrid format in Accra (Ghana) and online, by the project "Accelerating the Impact of Climate Research of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - CGIAR- for Africa (AICCRA)".

Organized under the theme "Unleashing the potential of inclusive, climate-resilient innovation and financing for healthier crops, environments and people", the forum's objectives included the establishment of a regional alliance to support the Food System Resilience Program (FSRP), through the co-development of a fully integrated strategy for the management of climate-related biological risks in West Africa.

It was in this context that CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation outlined CORAF's pest and disease program, as well as the organization's plans to establish a regional alliance.

"Through its interventions, CORAF helps farmers to better control and manage pests and diseases in West and Central Africa. It provides technical assistance to National Agricultural Research Systems to establish effective surveillance approaches, integrated management procedures, and to provide farmer training, awareness raising and capacity building, while strengthening links between stakeholders and promoting regional collaboration", explained Dr NJUKWE.

CORAF is currently implementing a myriad of projects aimed at curbing the effects of climate change and combating pests and diseases.

These include the project "Anticipating and managing biological risks to strengthen farmers' resilience to climate change in West and Central Africa"(BioRisks), the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme ex-Pillar 4(CAADP-XP4), which aims for a climate-adapted, science-driven transformation, the Scaling-up Agricultural Technologies and Innovations to Enhance the Resilience of Production Systems and Family Farms in West and Central Africa(TARSPro) project, the Food Systems Resilience Program(FSRP), and many others. 

"Focused on farmers, and more specifically smallholders, all these projects promote climate-smart agriculture, addressing the challenges of climate change and biological risks, as it is impossible today to dissociate the two", emphasizes CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation.

Towards a regional pest and disease control alliance

However, "the crusade against pests and diseases is not the business of a single organization. The need to set up an alliance to pool the efforts of its members is trivial," admits Dr NJUKWE.

For greater efficiency and impact, CORAF is developing plans to form an alliance with two strategic partners: the Regional Center of Excellence (RCE) of the "Epidemiology of West and Central African Viruses for Food Security -WAVE" program, and the Biological Risk Management Facility -BIMAF.

CRE Wave focuses on the effective control and management of plant diseases, as well as preventing the incursion of exotic plant diseases into new areas, while BIMAF is a multi-partner platform that focuses on arthropod control.

"CRE Wave is based in Côte d'Ivoire and BIMAF in Benin. Both have a relatively limited scope of action in West Africa. So, a CORAF-WAVE-BIMAF alliance would be effective in the fight against pests and diseases because each party would contribute its expertise, and, CORAF would ensure the coordination of actions as well as their extension to Central Africa," said Dr NJUKWE.

"Doing so will give us a better chance of winning the battle against pests and diseases and ensuring food and nutritional security for the people of West and Central Africa."

AICCRA is a new project that broadens African farmers' access to climate information services and climate-smart agriculture. 

It is being implemented in six countries: Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Zambia.

Supported by a grant from the World Bank's International Development Association, it is run by theBioversity Alliance and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.