Plant health and rapid response to perfect food security and livelihoods

The objective of this Initiative is to protect the agriculture-based economies of low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America from devastating crop pest incursions and disease outbreaks by developing, validating and deploying integrative innovations, and harnessing and building viable networks across a range of national, regional and global institutions. This objective will be achieved by: Filling knowledge and networking gaps for the identification and characterization of phytosanitary threats, focusing on strengthening the diagnostic and surveillance capacity of national plant protection organizations and national agricultural research and extension systems, and facilitating knowledge sharing on pests and diseases; Building capacity for risk assessment and data management and guiding preparedness for rapid response among relevant national stakeholders, focusing on controlling the introduction and spread of pests and diseases through the development and improvement of tools, standards and policies; Improved integrated pest and disease management, focusing on the design and deployment of approaches against priority phytosanitary threats in specific crops and cropping systems; Tools and processes to protect food chains from contamination, specifically through innovations to reduce mycotoxin contamination to protect health, increase food and feed safety, improve trade, diversify end-use and increase incomes; Equitable and inclusive scaling up of phytosanitary innovations to achieve impacts through multi-stakeholder partnerships, interdisciplinary research, effective communications and capacity building.