Pest risk assessment: a Zambian perspective

Abstract

Zambia is a landlocked developing country in southern Africa. It is an importer and exporter of plants and plant products. These are potential pathways for introducing exotic plant pests that may affect agricultural production and/or limit access to international export markets. In this regard, the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Zambia is responsible for formulating phytosanitary regulations to ensure risks of introducing exotic plant pests are minimized. For this, the application of Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) is a vital component of any phytosanitary service. PRAs can be data demanding, time consuming and complex. As a consequence, a simplified procedure that aligns Zambia’s national phytosanitary capacity and resources has been developed. The procedure has potential to be applied by other developing countries in similar situations. This simplified procedure focuses on the entry, establishment and spread of pests, the consequences of their introduction, and uses readily available data accessible to the NPPO of Zambia in order to facilitate a quicker response. The procedure developed seeks answers to questions which are phrased as closed questions, i.e. an answer is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, avoiding relative descriptive answers such as ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’.