FAO-led evaluation of the national food control system |07 February 2023

Data collection under way in Seychelles

After a week-long training run by a team of FAO experts at the end of November 2022, a group of representatives from the ministries of Agriculture and of Fisheries and other stakeholders are embarking on the data collection phase of a project to improve the food control system in Seychelles.

The €5 million operation funded by the European Union, ‘Strengthening of Capacities and Governance in Food and Phytosanitary Control’, is providing technical support and working with national competent authorities and other leading institutions in 12 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) member countries to build up capabilities, strengthen governance and improve strategic planning around two main components: food safety and plant health. Seychelles is the second country to undertake the project’s activities, following Comoros.

The project, co-signed by the government of Seychelles, falls within the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Policy Framework for Africa developed by the African Union (AU) to spur trade among AU member states and is implemented in close collaboration with the African Commission Division for Rural Economy and Agriculture (AUC DARBE).

Assessment of the national food control system in Seychelles

Through the project, FAO is introducing to Seychelles the FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool, a unique instrument whose use is expanding steadily, which is designed to assess the national food control system in a comprehensive manner, by looking at the entire food chain, including production, distribution, the retail market and the consumers.

The project is an opportunity to increase the pool of experts in Seychelles and the rest of the participating countries, expanding the technical skills among the existing workforce of the various ministries and institutions that form part of the countries’ food control systems.
With the support of the team of FAO experts, the select group of trained Focal Points are currently in the process of gathering data and documenting evidence regarding one of four dimensions covered by the Assessment tool, specifically the policy and legal frameworks and the human and financial infrastructure of the country’s food control system.

The Focal Points plan to continue data collection across all four dimensions through March 2023. 

The success of the project depends on the thoroughness and quality of the data collected during this phase.

Participating governments have committed to engage in all the phases of the assessment process, which will culminate, with the development of a set of recommendations and a strategic framework aimed to improve the country’s public health and economic development.

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