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From 7 – 18 November, FAO hosted a training-of-trainers on its Pesticide Registration Toolkit. During the training, a global team of experts in pesticide registration and management discussed materials developed by FAO to make registration authorities in developing countries aware of the Toolkit and train them in its use. Registration is an important step in management of pesticides. It enables authorities primarily to determine which products are permitted to be used and for what purposes, and also to exercise control over quality, use levels, claims, labelling, packaging and advertising of pesticides. Thus, registration a key step to ensure that the interests of end-users as well as the environment are well protected. This process is particularly complex in countries with limited resources.To help filling this gap, the FAO toolkit is designed for assisting pesticide registrars from developing countries in the day to day tasks to conduct pesticide registration, including those aspects that concern risk assessment. It facilitates finding data requirements, evaluating human and environmental risks, and determining risk mitigation measures. The toolkit will also assist registrars in accessing many kinds of pesticide-specific information such as the registration status in other countries, scientific reviews and hazard classifications among others. Hans Dreyer, Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO, stressed to participants that to implement FAOs Strategic Objectives, the FAO Agricultural Department is pursuing sustainable crop production intensification that follows Integrated Pest Management approaches based on agro-ecological principles. Reducing risks of pesticides is an important component that still faces many challenges, and the newly developed FAO Toolkit on Pesticide Registration would provide strong support to pesticide regulatory authorities particularly in developing countries on sound management and risk reduction of pesticides throughout their life cycle. An extensive programme involving trainers from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, China, Germany, Mozambique, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Sweden and Zimbabwe to roll out the Toolkit in various regions of the world was also established. FAO will continue to develop new modules in the Toolkit and update its contents, to ensure that pesticide registration staff are supported in contributing to sustainable agricultural intensification. For more information, contact Gu Baogen ([email protected])

A national workshop on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit will be organized from 4 to 7 April 2016 in Yangon, in close collaboration with the Plant Protection Division of Myanmar. The workshop will bring together pesticide registration staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, members of the national pesticide registration board and participants from relevant research institutes. The aim of the workshop is to present the contents of the Toolkit and ensure that participants can make use of it during their day-to-work. It is expected that the workshop will contribute to better informed decision making for the authorization of pesticides in Myanmar. This, in turn, will lead to more effective pest management and lower risks for human health and the environment. The workshop is funded under the FAO regional project on Pesticide Risk Reduction in South East Asia, funded by the Government of Sweden.

FAO organized two regional workshops with pesticide registration authorities from countries in South-East Asia and East Africa, in June 2015 in Hanoi and Dar es Salaam. Participants were introduced to the Pesticide Registration Toolkit and tested its content and functionalities. Based on the comments they provided, FAO is improving the Toolkit and making it better respond to the needs of pesticide registration staff in countries with limited resources.