prevention and control of aflatoxin contamination in value chains

Division „Rural Development and Agriculture“ 15.03.2016

Prevention and control of

aflatoxin contamination

in value chains

Contribution of GIZ

Bruno Schuler

Content


1. Background: Food losses, issue of aflatoxin, challenges, abbreviations

followed by GIZ project activities:

2. Promotion of value chains and reduction of risk of aflatoxin

contamination: by the “Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and

Food Sector”, commissioned by BMZ Special Initiative

“ONEWORLD – No Hunger!”.

3. Further (planned) activities to reduce post-harvest losses and possible

aflatoxin contamination: by various projects worldwide

4. Aflasafe technology in Zambia: Upscaling and dissemination in other

countries in Africa: by IITA/CGIAR - CCAFS, GIZ/ITAACC, Bill&Melinda

Gates Foundation, USDA, PACA and other partners

5. Aflatoxin risk assessment as part of the Rapid Food Loss Assessment

Tool (RLAT): by Sector Project Sustainable Agriculture (SV NAREN)

Aflatoxin - Background


• FAO estimates that one third of all food produced around the world is lost before

it reaches our plates. Losses and waste occur at every level of the value chain

• Food losses occur mainly at the immediate post-harvest stages in developing

countries (whereby causes are often related to pre-harvest stages, i.e. choice of

seed)

• Around a quarter of the world food crops as well as world’s grain harvest may be

contaminated with mycotoxins (FAO)

• Contamination with aflatoxin is a major barrier in linking African farmers to

markets as aflatoxin prevents commodities from meeting international, regional

and local regulations and standards

• Most severely affected countries are those located between the 40th northern and

the 40th southern lines of latitude

• Aflatoxin is a significant threat to both human and animal health.

Biological causes Mechanical

causes

Quantitative losses

Qualitative losses

Food Losses

Aflatoxin – important factor for food losses


Aflatoxin

Most severely affected countries by aflatoxin


Challenges for development cooperation


• Awareness for aflatoxin contamination and health danger is low,

especially at producer and consumer levels

• No alternatives to contaminated food available

• No methodology: How can contaminated food be treated?

• Lowering aflatoxin levels requires a systematic approach

addressing various causes

Abbreviations of organisations and programmes


• BMZ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

with the special Initiative “ONEWORLD – No Hunger”

• CCAFS Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (research

programme of CGIAR)

• GIAE Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector

(global programme concentrating on 12 countries in Africa)

• GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

GmbH (German development cooperation)

• ITAACC Innovation Transfer into Agriculture – Adaptation to Climate

Change (GIZ sector project with focus on Africa)

• NAREN Sustainable Agriculture (GIZ sector project with global focus)

• PACA Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (initiative)

2. Promotion of value chains and reduction of risk of aflatoxin contamination

by the

“Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector”

in some countries in Africa

Activities of GIZ


2. Promotion of value chains with risk of aflatoxin contamination

and reduction of risk of aflatoxin contamination:

by the “Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food

Sector” (GIAE),

commissioned by BMZ Special Initiative “ONEWORLD – No

Hunger!”.

Projects in Benin (rice, soya), Burkina Faso (rice), Cameroon

(poultry), Ethiopia (wheat, beans), Ghana (maize, rice) Kenya (milk),

Malawi (groundnuts, soya, sunflower), Mali (rice), Nigeria (rice,

maize), Togo (groundnuts, soya), Tunisia (milk, meat), Zambia (soya,

groundnuts, milk)

Seite 10

„ONEWORLD – No Hunger“ Initiative - Focus countries

BEN

MWL

SAM

ETH

JME

SOM

GHA KAM

KEN

MLI

TGO

KMB NIG

IND

BUR

TUN

Food and nutrition security, enhanced resilience

Innovation Centres for the agriculture and food sector

Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security

Global Programmes:

Examples of planned project activities related to groundnuts in 2016

Malawi - Provision of aflatoxin management training services - Provision of diagnostic services - Integrated aflatoxin management along the whole value chain - Storage of aflatoxin-free products through improved drying technologies

and warehouse management practices Togo - Establishing of a national lab for aflatoxin analysis - Extension towoards prevention of contamination during production and post-harvest activities

Zambia - Control and reduction of aflatoxin during production, storage and processing

3. Further (planned) activities to reduce post-harvest losses and possible aflatoxin

contamination

by various projects

in some countries worldwide

Activities of GIZ


3. Further (planned) activities to reduce post-harvest losses and

possible aflatoxin contamination:

by various projects

commissioned by BMZ

Projects in

Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda,

Zimbabwe

Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, ASEAN countries

Latin America: Bolivia, Guatemala

4. Aflasafe Technology in Zambia: Upscaling and dissemination in other countries in Africa through

on-farm trials for wide uptake and utilisation

Opportunities and difficulties in the research and development cooperation

by

IITA – International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ITAACC - Innovation Transfer into Agriculture – Adaptation to Climate Change (GIZ sector project with focus on Africa)

and other partners

www.iita.org

Aflatoxin in Zambia

District Range Mean

Proportion of samples (%)

Safe (< 4 ppb)* Unsafe (> 10 ppb)#

Chipata 0.7 – 108.8 15.1 69.2 30.8

Katete 0.0 – 10.9 3.3 85.7 14.3

Mambwe 0.0 – 255.0 55.1 10.0 80.0

Nyimba 0.0 – 81.4 16.6 60.0 33.3

Petauke 0.1 – 103.2 17.5 73.3 20.0

Aflatoxin levels (ppb) in maize flour from markets & homesteads

*As per EU standard; # As per Zambia standard

A member of CGIAR consortium

Aflatoxin in Zambia

District Range Mean

Proportion of samples (%)

Safe (< 4 ppb)* Unsafe (> 10 ppb)#

Chipata 0.4 – 3435 176.5 28.6 53.6

Lundazi 0.7 – 310 63.6 15.8 68.4

Mambwe 1.1 – 5234 523.3 10.0 80.0

Nyimba 1.4 – 376 76.0 33.3 55.6

Petauke 1.7 – 775 147.3 13.3 66.6

Aflatoxin levels (ppb) in groundnut flour from markets & homesteads

*As per EU standard; # As per Zambia standard

Aflasafe

Dead sorghum grains coated with a mixture of

atoxigenic strains, a polymer and a blue dye

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

2012/2013 2013/2014

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2012/2013 2013/2014

Control

Treated

Aflato

xin

(ppb)

www.iita.org

Aflasafe efficacy in Zambia


96% reduction

Maize Groundnut

89% reduction

74% reduction

84% reduction


Aflasafe Product Development

Senegal

Burkina

Faso Ghana

Nigeria

Kenya

Tanzania

Mozambique

Zambia

Rwanda

Malawi

Burundi

Uganda

The

Gambia

Strain development in

progress

Products under testing in

farmers’ fields

Product ready for registration

Product registered


Upscaling of aflasafe application

• Nigeria: Farmers to produce 260,000 tons of Aflasafe maize; Public-Private Partnership

• Senegal: Area-wide treatment during 2013 to 2015 with 32 tons; private sector led

• Kenya: Government buy-in; about 230 tons procured; excellent support

• Zambia: New effort beginning

Senegal

Kenya


Biocontrol efforts

• Create a sustainable system

(commercialization/public good) where

small holder farmers have access to

Aflasafe and are incentivized to utilize

Aflasafe to control aflatoxin levels

• Need for business plan, manufacturing

capacity, marketing and distribution

strategies

• Advocacy, awareness, demonstration of

product value

• Full registration, licensing and

stewardship

• Training and technical back-stopping

• Develop second generation product

• Develop regional strains

www.aflasafe.com

5. Rapid Loss Assessment Tool (RLAT)

for agribusiness value chains


by the Sector Project Sustainable Agriculture

(SV NAREN)

can be applied in crop value chains in Africa

Aflatoxin assessment


Rapid Loss Assessment Tool (RLAT) for agribusiness value chains” contains a part for aflatoxin risk assessment Tool developed by the Sector Project Sustainable Agriculture in cooperation with project in Ghana Publications: user guide for maize (2015), toolbox (2016), case study of maize in Ghana (2016) The tool can be applied for food loss and aflatoxin risk assessment in crop value chains in cooperation with projects.

Integrating the aflatoxin risk into the Rapid Food Loss Appraisal Tool


Bio-physical measurements:

Indication of aflatoxin risk via number of discoloured grains (which has no direct relationship with aflatoxin, but indicates a higher risk)

Use of blue-light as aflatoxin indicator not successful – high rate of instrumentation needed in the field, including access to power

Laboratory testing is too lengthy and complicated (sampling!) for RLAT, but should be recommended as a follow up if a high risk has been detected by the number of discoloured grains

Aflatoxin checklist:

Points of increased risk for aflatoxin contamination along the production to consumption chain

Risk evaluated as percentage of positive responses

List has to be specifically conceived for every commodity

Sector Project „Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture"

Example: Transect Walk

Small Scale Farmer

Production

Market loss

Supply shortage

Discarded Grain

Litigation

Human health

impact

Sale to local

market

Market loss

Reduced milk

productivity

Livestock disease

burden

Reduced prices of

products

Discarded products

Human health

impact

Disease burden

Reduced

productivity

Contaminated

livestock products

Own consumption Livestock feed

Export - oriented Farmer

Production

Human health

impact

Disease burden

Reduced

productivity

Own consumption Sale to trader

Export

Quality standards

not met

Thank you for your attention!

Sector Project "Sustainable Agriculture"

See also library on post-harvest publications: https://www.donorplatform.org/postharvest-losses-and-food-

waste/on-common-ground

prevention and control of aflatoxin contamination in value chains

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