Safer food, feed maize as aflasafe treated harvest thrives

Three years on, consumers in Nigeria are well on the way to eating better quality maize in which there is lower level of aflatoxin, a potential carcinogen from the fungus, Aspergillus flavus.

In the same vein, the animal feed industry would be well off with healthier poultry birds and increase in egg and meat output for entrepreneurs, who key into the use of this aflasafe-treated maize for feed.

In largely successful pilot operations involving stakeholders, AgResults, domiciled in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has made it clear that maize with very low level of aflatoxin could be achieved.

AgResult’s Pilot Manager, Debo Akande said the multi-donor initiative is aimed at boosting global agriculture and food security through private sector-led innovations for maize-producing organisations and farmers, involved in the AgResults Aflasafe project, now in its third year.

At the event held recently in Lagos, Akande said addressing issues and common challenges militating against a sustainable market and adoption of aflatoxin-reduced maize were at the core of the workshop proceedings.

It is not in doubt that IITA and AgResult are concerned about food safety from the farm to the table, especially in the local Nigerian environment, where maize and groundnuts have been less than acceptable with the blight of aflatoxin.

Aflatoxin has robbed farmers of premium prices for their commodity and predisposed consumers, including animals to disease afflictions, however the successful deployment of Aflasafe, a product that deals with the fungus, a safer produce is available, Alejandro Ortega, a resource person, pointed out.

AgSafe has shown the way to better quality produce, but like Akande said, the onus for wider scale production and distribution lies in the hands of the private sector.

Hitherto, Mrs. Stella Denloye, former NAFDAC Director and independent consultant highlighted the need for full-scale action to be taken to put the aflatoxin-reduced maize in the hands of consumers nationwide.

Mrs. Denloye listed food insecurity, health and limited dietary diversity, economic losses and barriers to trade, limited aflatoxin regulation, challenges of enforcement and lack of aflatoxin awareness as some of the things contending with stakeholders and other consumers.

She decried lack of awareness of the negative impact of aflatoxin-laden produce in a nation that is a heavy consumer of maize as food and feed commodity.

AgResult’s Pilot Manager revealed Aflasafe has been used in farms in the country to grow maize and also applicable to groundnut, another crop that is heavily susceptible to attack by the fungus, Aspergillus species.

Several participants, including implementers (cooperative or farmer-based organisation/companies producing aflatoxin-reduced maize), private companies interested in aflatoxin reduced maize, and resource persons interacted to identify challenges to production, marketing, and access to aflatoxin-reduced maize through discussions on market requirements (quality, quantity, and time of sales) and analysis of the existing aflatoxin maize production strategy.

Aflatoxin produced by fungi, commonly found in grains such as maize and groundnuts, is toxic substance with harmful health effects for consumers and negative economic consequences for farmers. It has been established that local maize-producing organisations and farmers are mostly unaware of the aflatoxin problem.

The AgResults Aflasafe project works with private and public sector enterprises (also called implementers), which provide inputs and farm services including Aflasafe to their constituent farmers at cost.

The project pays incentives to farmers and implementers when their crops are verified to contain high frequency of Aflasafe strains with aflatoxin reduction, the tell-tale sign that the product was appropriately applied on the crop.

Aflasafe is a natural biocontrol product developed by IITA and partners to help farmers manage aflatoxin contamination on cereal and grain products in the field and in the store.