In West Africa, a variety of sub-regional and bilateral initiatives are building capacity of countries and institutions to effectively manage pesticides, particularly the illegal transport of banned pesticides.
Under the umbrella of the Committee on Drought Control in the Sahel (known by its French acronym CILSS) a Common Regulation for Pesticide Registration in the CILSS Member States was established. [Established in 1973, CILSS includes nine Member States: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Guinea Bissau, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.] These regulations provide for the registration of all pesticides entering the Sahel region to be performed by a central committee of experts, called the Sahelian Pesticide Committee. Harmonised tests and field trials have been established, and regional laboratories for conducting various analyses relating to pesticides are being identified. The mandate of the Committee includes a review of notifications under the PIC Procedure and to advise Member States.
For more information, see http://www.cilssnet.org/ or contact Amadou Diarra at csp@agrosoc.insah.org
In a separate initiative, the FAO is supporting an ongoing project to harmonise national legislation on pesticide management in the nine CILSS countries.
For more information on this project, contact Mrs. Fatoumata Jallow Ndoye at fjndoye@qanet.gm
Finally, the Joint Senegalo-Gambia Initiative on Pesticide and Pest Control provides a framework by which Senegal and The Gambia will jointly monitor their common borders for illegal entry of banned pesticides. This initiative also provides that Senegal will perform residue analyses on pesticides, for the two countries, while The Gambia will do formulation analyses.
For more information on this initiative, contact Mr. Amadou Diarra, at csp@agrosoc.insah.org