2012, April: Efficacy evaluation of chemical pesticides continued

Progress has been made on the evaluation of dossiers of chemical pesticides. In April 2012 a meeting took place which resulted in a draft guideline on acceptance of pesticide efficacy data generated outside of Ethiopia. The major feature of this guideline is the specification of an area -covering a large part of East Africa- within which the climatic conditions may be considered comparable to those employed in Ethiopia at the evaluation of pesticide efficacy. In Ethiopia, the climate is primarily -if not entirely- influenced by the elevation level. At evaluation of efficacy data two climatic zones will be distinguished; the highlands and lowlands.

In May 2012 a training was organized by EIAR on the general guidelines and testing protocols. All testing protocols developed so far have been discussed and further improved. Together with Paul de Boer of Linge Agroconsultancy in The Netherlands the general guidelines have been amended on, for example, performing dose justification. It should now not take too much time anymore for these documents to be formalized and implemented. The elaboration of a new batch of testing protocols was suggested and the route for approving them has been worked out.

Deciding on extrapolation possibilities between crops and pests requires a high level of expertise. It appears to be challenging to come up with satisfactory possibilities. A startup for composing an extrapolation document has been made by means of a questionnaire.

The location of the greenhouse facilities have partially been decided on. At the proposed sites in Holotta and Debre Zeit the exact locations are chosen and have even already been prepared. A appropriate site for a third facility representing the lowlands is now being sought for in Melkassa.

In May 2012 the APHRD staff has been trained on the new requirements for efficacy research. The status quo was reviewed and the general guideline and the testing protocols have been handled. Also the guideline on acceptance of pesticide efficacy data generated outside of Ethiopia has been explained and agreed on. The following necessary steps to undertake for having the efficacy part of the registration system working were discussed. The next activities will be dedicated to the specification of the criteria and the development of an evaluation manual. During this training APHRD staff already looked ahead of this and a preliminary discussion was held on how to account for the various aspects involved with evaluation of efficacy.