One of the impediments to ASEAN Member States (AMSs) taking full advantage of the benefits of the international market when it comes to their agricultural produce is the challenge to comply with relevant regulations and international standards, in particular international plant health and safety standards. It is said that a country’s ability to access markets for its agricultural produce is based on its ability to effectively manage its agricultural pests and diseases, report its plant health status, and protect itself from incursion by exotic pests or diseases. Some AMSs have weaker or less developed plant health and safety systems with poor infrastructure, poor access to required knowledge, and limited capacity to support compliance with these standards. Others, however, have the infrastructure and capacity in place, which could be leveraged to assist the former.
Endorsed by the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Crops, the ASEAN Regional Diagnostic Network (ARDN) has been established. It is “envisaged as a system that would provide identifications of organisms of agricultural importance (especially plant pests, diseases, and weeds) detected in the Southeast Asian region. Among other activities, the ARDN would support the ASEAN Sectoral Working Group on Crops’ goal to reduce trade impediments by harmonising phytosanitary measures within the ASEAN region.” It is against this backdrop that an initiative supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) started—the Taxonomic Capacity Building to Support Market Access for Agricultural Trade in the ASEAN Region. It aims to carry out a taxonomic capacity building program urgently needed to support the implementation of the ARDN Strategic Plan by improving the capacities of ASEAN plant health officers in diagnostic skills for accurate and timely diagnosis and identification of pests and diseases while also providing key skills needed in monitoring and surveillance, and border inspection systems. Phase 1 concluded in early 2019 and contributed to the training on various topics of 75 ASEAN plant health officers, where nine (9) of which participated in an attachment program. In addition to the training component, Phase 1 also developed an expertise register, a website, and promotional materials. The project also highlighted the participation of Japanese experts as resource persons for the trainings and also conduct of study visits and attachment programs at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Nara Women’s University respectively.
