Plant health and food safety

HIBAPRESS-RABAT-FAO

Limiting the spread of pests, protecting important crops and collaborating across borders are necessary to feed our world of eight billion people. These principles are at the heart of the IPPC and the plant health community. Pests can destroy vast fields of crops, ruin national agricultural production systems, cause devastating famine, untold suffering and death. Although 80% of food comes from plants, 40% of the world’s crops, or $220 billion, are lost to pests.

Therefore, through the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM), the IPPC helps contracting parties to collaborate by harmonizing the phytosanitary measures they apply to limit the impact of pests on crop productivity and safety. eating. Standards such as ISPM 8 (Determination of Phytosanitary Status in an Area) describe the type of information required to determine the presence of a pest in an area, thereby guiding contracting parties to report the pest and implement relevant measures to protect plants and safeguard food safety.

The IPPC Secretariat works with contracting parties to deliver technical training and use a range of IPPC knowledge products to help them improve their national phytosanitary systems and their ability to prevent, detect and respond to incursions by organisms. pests, protecting food sources and paving the way for a world without hunger.