Eradicate Destructive Insects in the Horticultural Sector

The horticultural sector contributes to a balanced diet for millions of consumers in West Africa. It represents an important source of foreign exchange and employment for low-income countries.

In the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, however, fruit flies seriously harm fruit and vegetable production. It affects not only the health of the population but also all exportations from the region to Europe. Non-compliance with European phytosanitary standards, particularly due to infestation of pulp by fruit flies, leads to many border interceptions. This causes heavy loss of income for West African farmers.

The following regional plan aims at reducing export losses due to infestation of fruit flies and improving the income of fruit and vegetable farmers. 

It plans to implement: 

• a monitoring system at national and regional levels, in order to organize the registration of the infestation rate and raise alerts if necessary;
• a combat system, to coordinate and support interventions consisted of 3 alert levels (preventive, intensive or integral); 
• a capacity-building system for national public as for private organizations. 

Applied research will also be supported in the view of improving techniques and facilitating their transfer and their extension at the national level.

 

• Increase of fruit availability on local markets.
• Improvement of "West African" origin's credibility.
• Rise of exports towards Europe by half.
• Increase and diversification of farmers' income.
• Extension of developed systems to other agricultural sectors.