The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) in collaboration with the Regional Centre of Excellence for Transboundary Plant Pathogens (WAVE) organise a high-level policy and technical dialogue on the certification of disease-free seeds and the rapid response to outbreaks of emerging plant pathogens in West and Central Africa. The event, scheduled from 7 to 8 March 2024, will be held at WAVE headquarters, located at the UFHB science and innovation center in Bingerville, Côte d’Ivoire.
Cross-border plant pathogens responsible for plant diseases and other pests threaten farmers’ crops and incomes in West and Central Africa. Faced with this problem, CORAF, with the financial support of the European Union, and the political support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) undertakes initiatives through the BIORISKS project through the WAVE hub to transform the situation.
To this end, the high-level policy and technical dialogue on disease-free seed certification in West and Central Africa will be an opportunity to launch the WAVE Bridge projects: Functional Rapid Responses to Plant Infectious Diseases (RAPID) Prototype, co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Gates Philanthropy Partners and Next-WAVE for Sustainable PlantHealth, co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The political and technical dialogue will also be an opportunity to officially and symbolically hand over laboratory equipment and equipment acquired as part of the EU-funded BIORISKS project and raise awareness among governments of the importance of certification of disease-free seeds for sustainable agriculture in Africa.
This major event will bring together more than 150 participants, including members of the Ivorian government, ministers of agriculture, higher education, participants from countries implementing the BIORISKS project, as well as representatives of international organizations, technical and financial partners of CORAF and the WAVE Centre.
The expected results of this high-level political and technical dialogue include the recognition of the WAVE Regional Centre of Excellence and its laboratories in the 10 countries in West Africa and the Centre in African phytosanitary frameworks. It is also expected to develop or deploy an action plan to counter the spread of the East African cassava mosaic virus (EACMV-Ug) and control the spread of cassava brown streak virus to control potential devastating epidemics of cassava viral diseases in Central and West Africa.
This joint initiative reinforces CORAF’s commitment to food security, regional biosecurity, and farmer prosperity in West and Central Africa.
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About CORAF
CORAF, a sub-regional organization of the national agricultural research systems of 23 countries in West and Central Africa, has the mandate to coordinate the implementation of sub-agricultural research regions as defined by governments. Established in 1987 with its Executive Secretariat in Dakar, Senegal, CORAF’s main objective is to improve livelihoods in West and Central Africa, through sustainable increases in agricultural production and productivity and promote competitiveness and markets.
Learn more: www.coraf.org/
For more information contact:
Christel KENOU, Communications Manager, [email protected]
About WAVE
The Regional Centre of Excellence Central and West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) is a scientific and technical platform created in 2014 with joint funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Its objective is to increase food production in Central and West Africa in a sustainable way by developing effective methods of control and management of plant diseases, and to prevent the incursion of exotic plant diseases into new areas.
With its headquarters at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Côte d’Ivoire, WAVE, which relies on a network of universities, national scientific and biotechnological research institutions from 10 countries in Central and West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Togo) is prepared to contribute to health surveillance, certification of disease-free seed and rapid response to incursions of emerging plant pathogens in Africa.
Learn more: www.wave-center.org
For more information contact:
Nazaire Kouassi: [email protected]
Tel. (+225) 01 02 02 11 16