CGIAR organized a webinar to discuss One Health. IITA–CGIAR Associate Scientist Titilayo Falade, who works with Mycotoxin/Pathology and Aflasafe Unit, co-led the webinar with Dr Vivian Hoffman, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The webinar featured presentations by IITA Molecular Entomologist Rousseau Djouaka, Dr Arshnee Moodley, Team Leader Antimicrobial Resistance Hub, Institut international de recherche sur l'élevage (ILRI), and other international experts.
Experts at the webinar also discussed the trade-offs at the interface of plant health with animal, ecosystem, and human health and the need to maintain a healthy planet as crucial for sustainability.
The webinar highlighted sustainable intensification that allows increased food production without jeopardizing natural habitats, avoiding excessive greenhouse emissions, and the responsible use of agrochemicals that minimize antimicrobial and insecticide resistance risks to human and animal health to promote One Health.
In addition, the webinar stressed the need to protect plants without leaving excessive pesticide residues that are harmful to the environment, humans, and animals. Participants highlighted strategies for plant protection from natural toxins like aflatoxins that negatively affect human and animal health using effective pre-harvest solutions like Aflasafe and accessible postharvest strategies like tarpaulin. They also noted the role of gender inclusivity in one health.
The webinar revealed the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in the generation of innovations in the delivery of plant health services, such as establishing plant health clinics through trained extension workers with a One Health lens. This would solve the farmers’ problems and ensure food security and safety for the consumers.
Following the webinar, an opinion piece was published in the Center for Agricultural and Bioscience International (CABI) Agriculture and Bioscience titled “A One Health Approach to Plant Health”. This webinar and the publication contribute to knowledge on the importance of plant health in the One Health discussions, which is normally de-emphasized in other approaches.
Contributed by Anita Akinyomade
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