Since 2008, a program called Enlargement and Sustainability of the Plant Protection Network (ePRPV in French) is in place in the South-West Indian Ocean. It aims to consolidate the achievements of the first PRPV and sustain the existing network by developing collaborations between the IOC countries.

Agriculture is an important sector of the national economy of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC)  five member states: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island and Seychelles. In these countries, it is confronted with the existence of numerous technical and plant health related constraints, linked to the presence of pests and diseases on crops with high economic potential, such as fruits and vegetables.

The island ecosystems of the five IOC countries share many phytosanitary problems due to the proximity and similarity of, they share many phytosanitary problems of their island ecosystems. A fair amount of those issues has been solved thanks to the collaboration in the course of the first Regional Plant Protection Program ( in French PRPV, 2003-2008) between the services of plant protection and agricultural research of the IOC countries.

Securing food safety

Today, new constraints have emerged. They are related to global changes (loss of biodiversity and climate change) and food and energy crises. This context has highlighted the need for Indian Ocean countries to secure their food and energy supplies by fostering their complementarity in certain key sectors of their agricultural economies.

Since 2008, a second program has been in place to consolidate the achievements of the first PRPV and sustain the existing network by developing collaborations between IOC the countries. This program was called  in French ePRPV for “enlargement and sustainability of the plant protection network” (Elargissement et Pérennisation du Réseau de Protection des Végétaux). Over the 2008-2013 period, the Operational Program for Territorial Cooperation (European Regional Development Fund, French State, Regional Council and General Council of Reunion Island, Cirad) funded its 2.133 million Euros budget. It is the Reunion Island operational participation in the "Regional Initiative Agroecology Climate Change" project  (IRACC in French), carried out by the Indian Ocean Commission and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Both projects aim, within the same network, to disseminate agro-ecological techniques in the Indian Ocean in order to help the small-scale farming in adapting to climate change, while improving income and living conditions for producers.