Research Theme 4: Food storage, value addition and mycotoxin management

Research Progress from September 2014 to June 2015

Presented to ESA Planning Meeting

Malawi, July 2015

By Research Team 4

Team MembersResearch theme 4• Storage and Nutritiono Adebayo Abass and team

• Mycotoxinso George Mahuku and team

Integrated with:• Research theme 1: Fertilizer and maize variety trialso Job Kihara and Team

• Research theme 8: Poultry feed formulationso Ben Lukuyu and Team

Importance of food storage and mycotoxin management

• To minimize: o Quantitative losses (food security: accessibility, affordability) o Qualitative losses (nutritive value and safety of food)o Financial losses and safeguard trade - especially international

trade• So that the harvested food reaches the consumer to fulfill

satisfaction in terms of quality, quantity and safety• But due to poor or absence of improved:

o Pre- & post-harvest management technologies , including storage infrastructure

o Improved processing methods and machineryo Market facilitieso Awareness

Importance of food storage and mycotoxin management

• Significant post-harvest losses are experienced (20 – 40% in Africa)• Health problems from consumption of unsafe

foods – mycotoxins (cancer, child stunting, immune suppression, blood and nerve defects, instant death, etc.)• Rejection of agricultural products with higher than

the regulated limits for mycotoxins (aflatoxin in Kenya) – loss of market opportunities

What are the possible impacts of food losses and high mycotoxin in foods?

• Insufficient household foods for 365days• Poor quality of nutrients in household

diets• Unsafe foods• Malnutrition in children, lactating women

and the elderly.• Frail or sickly population

Post-harvest loss assessment:characteristics of a maize-based system

Abass et al., 2014

What has been done in Babati?

• 120 maize samples at storage (Day 0) collected in August/September 2014• 180 maize samples at storage (Day 90) collected in November 2014• 180 maize samples at storage (Day 180) collected in February 2015• Samples assayed for aflatoxin and fumonisin• 103 maize samples collected in June 2015 from maize variety and fertilizer

trials conducted by Research Theme 1 to determine influence of maize variety and fertilizers on mycotoxins. The samples are currently being processed prior to lab mycotoxin analysis

• Aflatoxin bio-control activities executed in 4 villages (Sabilo, Sangaiwe, Matufa and Hallu Villages) with 20 farmers per village

• Assessment of post-harvest losses in maize in three storage structures• Assessment of nutritional status of the diet for the population of maize based

farming system (children and the vulnerable groups)

Conducted in Long, Sabilo and Seloto, involving 60 farmers and 5 tons of maize

Assessment of post-harvest losses in maize

Percentage loss of maize stored for 8 months

Poly

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Poly

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Trad

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Maize storage practices

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

Loss

(% u

nmar

keta

ble

grai

ns)

Assessment of nutritional status of pregnant women in Babati

Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC)

At risk of malnutrition (MUAC < 220mm)

Normal (MUAC ≥ 220mm)0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

8

2226.7

73.3

Number Percent

Assessment of nutritional status of farm households in maize-based farming system (children and the other vulnerable groups)

Underweight (BMI < 18.5)

Normal (BMI 18.5 - 24.9) Overweight (BMI ≥ 25)0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

7

29

517.1

70.7

12.2

Number Percent

Nutritional status of lactating mothers in Babati

Body mass index (BMI)

Nutritional status of the elderly in Babati

Body mass index (BMI)

Underweight (BMI < 18.5)

Normal (BMI 18.5 - 24.9) Overweight (BMI ≥ 25)0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

8

24

6

21.1

63.2

15.8

Number Percent

Can adequate food storage lead to better health outcomes?

A storage experiment with farmers from 2013-2014: Assessment of the nutritional status of children of participating and non-

participating households

Underweight Stunting Wasting0

10

20

30

40

50

60

16.1

41.4

3.3

21.5

56.6

2.5

Experimental households Non-experimental households

Perc

ent

Integration with Research theme 1: samples collected for mycotoxin analysis

Samples collected from Research theme 1

Village Number of samplesFertilizer

trialMaize variety

trial

Seloto 24 36Sabilo 12 9Hallu 12 10Total 48 55Grand total 103

Fertilizer and variety treatments

Fertilizer treatments0N 40P 60K45N 40P 60K90N 40P 60K120N 40P 60K150N 40P 60K120N 0P 60K120N 15P 60K120N 30P 60KControl

Maize varietiesSEED CO 627Kenya H513Pioneer 3253

Integration with Research theme 8Village Sample type Quantity

Matufa

Lablab 2Maize bran 3Blood meal 1Sorghum 4Pigeon pea 2Maize 2Sunflower cake 1Soybean 1Broken rice 1Rice bran 1Moringa leaf meal 1

Leucaena leaf meal 1Total 20

SabiloSunflower cake 2Sorghum 2Pigeon pea 2

Total 6

Village Sample type Quantity

Seloto

Sunflower cake 3Maize 3Maize bran 1Pigeon pea 1Sorghum 1Soybean 1

Total 10

HalluMaize bran 2Sunflower cake 2Sorghum 2

Total 6

Babati town Blood meal 1Fish meal 2

Total 3Grand total 45

Samples collected for mycotoxin analysis

• Use of Aspergillus flavus strains that do not produce toxins

• Naturally outcompete the toxic producing strains, reducing their population and hence aflatoxin

Villages selected in Babati: • Sabilo• Sangaiwe• Matufa• Hallu

Interventions/Scaling-up

Aflatoxin bio-control

Broadcast @ 10 kg/ha 2-3 weeks before flowering

Spores

Insects

Biocontrol in 5 kg boxes

3-20 days

Wind

Soilcolonization

30-33 grains m-2

Fungal network in killed grain

Sporulation on moist soil

How does the bio-control works?

Interventions/Scaling-up

Validation of potential aflatoxin bio-control product

• Efficacy tests of the Tanzanian atoxigenic A. flavus were conducted in the 4 villages (Hallu, Sabilo, Sangaiwe and Seloto)

• 5 sites per village to give total of 20 sites • 2 biocontrol products, consisting of 8 atoxigenic A. flavus

strains (4 strains in each group) tested • 30 samples collected from 3 villages (June 2015)• Samples currently being assayed for aflatoxin level• Microbial analysis (A. flavus, toxigenic and atoxigenic strain

analysis being done on 30 soil samples from successful trials

Percent of Fields

Tota

l Afl

atox

ins

Percent of Fields

Biological control of aflatoxin in Kenya – efficacy test experiments

Hola irrigation scheme – costal Kenya (2012)

Makueni - Farmer Field Trials (2012)

Nigeria: Efficacy on Maize

2009 2010 2011 20120

20

40

60

80

100

120372

Aflasafe™Control

2009 2010 2011 20120

100

200

300

400

500

600

*All means of aflasafe and control pairs significantly different; Student’s t-test (P<0.05)

82 94 83 86 82 93 89 90Less (%)

At Harvest After Storage

Interventions/Scaling-upWarehousing • Large-scale storage of maize to up-scale the improved hermetic

bag storage structure initiated in three villageso Long storage to wait for better price (price monitoring)o Reduce losses due to storage pests (quarterly sampling)o Reduce risks for contamination with mycotoxins (quarterly

sampling)Maize threshing machine• Saves time (500kg per hour) compared to traditional methods• Reduces labour input by women, fewer people• Reduces waiting time for threshing (in the open), hence reduces

chances for mycotoxin contamination(Scaling expert required to design further experiments)

Interventions/Scaling-upProduct development: Introducing high protein-content recipe using locally available materials –common bean: Long Seloto and Sabilo

• Creation of awareness of nutrition problem (stunting, wasting, lack of protein in diets, etc)

• New highly nutritious foods developed (6); lab analysis of new foods for nutrient density

• Support the establishment of pilot processing & innovation platform centers

• Sensory evaluation and community-based nutrition training

Awareness creation

Awareness creation to selected farmers during site selection

Atoxigenic strain imobilized on sorghum sporulates

A farmer applying biocontrol product

Farmers with biocontrol product

At least four manuscripts will be prepared for publication in international peer reviewed journals in 2015/2016 as one of the deliverables for this project (Research Theme 4).

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