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The International Society for Plant Pathology (ISPP), Task Force on Global Food Security have released their report for 2009-2010 activities. Please read further or for full report see attached PDF.
South Africa plays a leading economic role in Africa and has recently become morepopular with African students as an academic destination to do their postgraduatestudies in agriculture. With rapidly changing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)requirements and increased voluntary and regulatory standards, developing countriesfind it more difficult to competitively trade and effectively address food securitychallenges. Most African countries including South Africa, lack adequate humancapacity and expertise in critical areas such as SPS, pest risk assessment, food safetyand plant biosecurity. Currently, South Africa as in the rest of Africa, is not trainingan adequate number of plant pathologists to address these challenges. Furthermore, ageneral lack of public awareness and basic knowledge regarding plant health and foodsecurity issues, exist within Africa. The International Society for Plant Pathology(ISPP), Task Force on Global Food Security: Changing Public Policy and Opinions onGlobal Food Security aims to address the lack of knowledge and training needsthrough general awareness campaigns.
The main objective of this ISPP funded project was to establish plant health and foodsecurity awareness and marketing material, and a mobile laboratory that can be usedduring school visits, particularly in rural Africa. The current status of the project isthat marketing material has been established in the form of flyers, booklets,brochures, banners and a TV series on food security. A mobile lab has beenestablished by converting a caravan into a travelling lab. A trailer has also beenadapted to house bush lab equipment and camping gear. Outreach activities haveincluded visiting schools and setting up the bush lab for school kids as part of theawareness campaign. Further activities include visiting rural communities in theNorthern Provinces of South Africa and Mozambique. Linking this project with othersimilar programmes and establishing a network and food security data base, is ongoing. |
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