African Food Safety Agency to be established –AU O

The African Union Commission is working on the modalities of establishing African Food Safety Agency in order to promote human health and trade in agricultural products for sustainable development.

AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa SACKO made the statement during the opening Ceremony of the Senior Officials’ Session of the Third Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment that was held recently in Addis –Ababa at the AU headquarters.

“The overall objectives of these activities to strengthen our rural development interventions, we have a flagship programme on Agribusiness, Land and value Chain Development. Key components of this programme include the institutionalization of the African Land Policy Centre, implementation of the AU continental frameworks on boosting infrastructure on Intra Africa trade in Agricultural Commodities and the Post- Harvest Management Strategy as well as delivering on the African Union Commitments on Women’s Land Tenure Security” She said

The Commissioner added that in the area of food safety, the department is implementing the AU Sanitory and Phytosanitory Standard Policy Framework and AU Strategic Framework for Aflatoxin Control in Africa.

With regards to sustainable environment and natural resources management, SACKO said AU is implementing a wide-range of programmes. These include, the Great Green Wall Initiative, the Sharm El-Sheik Commitments on Water and sanitation, forestry and wildlife strategies as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation measures including the African Regional Programme on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Global Frame for Climate Services and the AMCOMET Strategy on Meteorology.

“To ensure a coordinated and synergistic implementation of these programmes, we have developed a draft Strategy for the Division of Environment, Climate Change, Water and Land Management in line with AU Medium Term Plan to enhance resource mobilization and programme delivery” she noted

The commissioner also further said that fisheries and Blue Economy are becoming ever more important for economies and livelihoods. Therefore, in addition to the traditional focus on animal health and production, AU is implementing major programmes on animal deceases control, vaccines, aquaculture and fisheries, creation of centres of excellence for development of fisheries and the development for Blue Economy in Africa.

The 3rd Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment drew the participation of Agriculture Ministers, Chair of the STC 2017 Bureau Representative of the host government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Members of the Diplomatic Corp, Senior Officials and Experts from AU Member States Representatives of the Regional Economic Communities Representatives from partner institutions.

Source: IPP Media