Technology solutions and opportunities available for abating the aflatoxin challenge

www.iita.org A member of CGIAR consortium

Ranajit Bandyopadhyay

IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria

Technology Solutions and Opportunities

available for Abating the Aflatoxin

Challenge

Regional Workshop on the Aflatoxin Challenges in Eastern and Southern

Africa: Improving Health, Trade & Food Security through Regional

Efforts to Mitigate Aflatoxin Contamination, Lilongwe, 11-13 March, 2014

• Highly toxic metabolite produced by the ubiquitous Aspergillus flavus fungus

• The fungus resides in soil and crop debris, infects crops and produces the toxin in the field and in stores

Aflatoxin Facts

• Contamination possible without visible signs of the fungus

• Fungus carried from field to store

• Favoured by high night temperature and dry conditions

• Drought stress predisposes plants to aflatoxin

www.iita.org

Aflatoxin Contamination Occurs in

Two Phases

Phase I: Before Crop Maturity

Developing crops become infected.

Associated with crop damage (insect, bird, stress).

Favored by high temperature (night) and dry conditions.

Phase II: After Crop Maturity

Aflatoxin increases in mature crop.

Seed is vulnerable until consumed.

Rain on the mature crop increases contamination.

Associated with high humidity in the field & store, insect

damage, and improper crop storage or transportation.


Pre-Harvest Problem

Aflatoxin (ppb)ppb)

Peanut (n = 188) Maize (n = 241)

Distribution (% samples)

> 4 54 70

> 10 41 52

> 20 29 24

Descriptive statistics (ppb)

Minimum < LOD < LOD

Maximum 3487 838

Mean 111 33

LOD = Limit of Detection; 1 ppb

Aflatoxin in Groundnut and Maize at Harvest

Increases in store

Kenya (CDC and Kenyan Ministry of Health 2004)

District Samples

% samples with aflatoxin levels (ppb)

<20 21-99 100-1,000 >1,000

Makueni 91 35 13 40 12

Kitui 73 38 21 32 10

Machakos 102 49 25 23 3

Thika 76 66 17 13 4

Total 342 47% 19% 27% 7%

Tanzania (IITA & partners, unpublished, 2013)

Aflatoxins in Markets

Crops Samples % samples with aflatoxin levels (ppb)

<10 11-100 101-1,000 >1,000

Groundnut 180 89 11 0 0

Maize 287 71 15 10 4

Cassava 405 86 10 4 0.2

Aflatoxin and Poultry (Broilers)

Aflatoxin

levels in

feeds in

Nigeria

Aflatoxin level (ppb) Samples (%)

<20 (safe) 38

>20 to 100 (up to 5x) 14

>100 to 500 (up to 25x) 41

>500 to 1,000 (up to 100x) 7

AF-free diet 500 ppb AF diet

AF-free

diet

500 ppb AF diet

~40% reduction in live weight (8 weeks)

Aflatoxin

Intervention

Medical

Agriculture

Surveillance

Enterosorption

Pre-harvest

Food processing

e.g. Novasil clay

Agriculture & Medical Prevention of Aflatoxin-

related Food Security and Health Effects

(Adapted from Wild and Hall, Mutation Res., 2000)

Awareness

Regulation

Provision of safe food

Early diagnosis

Post-harvest

Pre- and post-harvest Interventions for

Aflatoxins

• Pre-harvest

– Resistant cultivars, if available

– Biological control, e.g., aflasafe

– Irrigation, water conservation good crop management

• Post-harvest

– Sorting

– Insect control

– Improved drying and storage

– Aflatoxin testing

– Food / feed processing / detoxification methods / binders

– Alternative uses including blending

– Market development

www.iita.org www.iita.org A member of CGIAR consortium

Integrated Management

The elements are:

• Technology

• Awareness – entire range of value chain participants

• Advocacy – regional, national, investors

• Training – farmers, transporters, traders, regulators, consumers

• Policies – standards, harmonization, trade

• Institutions – regulators, markets, testing, private sector

• Trade / Markets – food/feed processors, poultry/fish industry

• Public good – home consumption; urban and rural markets; government procurement, HGSF

www.iita.org

Products ready for registration

• Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina

Faso and Kenya

Products under field testing

• Zambia

Products under development

• Ghana, Tanzania and

Mozambique

Products development to start

• Mali, The Gambia, Uganda,

Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi,

Malawi and South Sudan


Biocontrol

Product: Aflasafe (Mixture

of 4 native atoxigenic strains)

www.iita.org

Farmers treating maize and groundnut fields with Aflasafe in Nigeria

MAIZE: Aflatoxin reduction (%)

Stage 2009 2010 2011 2012

Harvest 82 94 83 93

Storage 92 93 x x

PEANUT: Aflatoxin reduction (%)

Stage 2009 2010 2011

Harvest - 95 82

Storage 100 80 x

Results from 482

on-farm trials

71% and 52% carry-over of

inoculum 1 & 2 years after

application


Kenya: Efficacy of aflasafe KE01™

Area (fields) Control Treated Reduction

(%)

Hola (n = 20) 885 20 98

Bura (n = 16) 105 7 93

Makueni (n = 15) 85 1 99

Aflatoxin (ppb)

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

38

20

0

88

60

33

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100Treated

Control

Fields (%) above 10 ppb in 3 areas

Fie

lds (

%)

Deadly (3,700 ppb & 2,270 ppb)

533 ppb

Hola


Aflasafe Plan & Plant

Capacity: 5 tons/hour

Biocontrol x Resistance

Experimental variety

At harvest

Control Aflasafe

RSYN2-Y 19.6 1.7

RSYN3-W 6.9 1.8

SYN3-Y 18.4 1.7

TZB-SR (susc.) 57.5 4.7

After poor storage

Control Aflasafe

462 44

627 38

387 19

1152 163

Combining management tactics increases extent of aflatoxin reduction

Aflatoxin (ppb) in Low-Aflatoxin Maize Lines With and Without Aflasafe Treatment



Farmer Training


Advocacy and Policies

• National and regionally harmonized standards in foods and feeds

• Intra-regional trade of safe food

• Enhanced capacity of regulators

• Alternative uses

• Disposal of contaminated material

• Regionally harmonized protocols for biopesticides registration

• Inclusion of aflatoxin in nutrition and health policies

• Aflatoxin alert system in Africa

• Critical role of PACA and RECs


Markets

Doreo Partner analysis

Poultry industry

Export-oriented aggregators

Food processors

Large commercial farmers

Smallholder farmers

Market based

• Poultry feed

• Premium food

market

• Export

AgResults (Incentive-

cum-market based)

ma

rke

t d

em

an

d f

or

Afl

as

afe

• 60% maize consumed by farmers

• 40% sold in the market


Challenges

• Aflatoxin is a hidden problem

• Chemical analysis required

• Awareness is low

• Long incubation for expression of health impacts

• Regulations either non-existent or poorly enforced

• Market does not usually discriminate

• Demonstration of product value

• Lack of biopesticide manufacturers

The value of a technology on the shelf is as much as the cost of the space it occupies on the shelf.

Must translate knowledge into usable products and practices to benefit people

But……

Pilot Implementation


• Value chain-centric: Farmers’ and other value chain participants’ interest as the foundation of the action

• Public sector intervention with health perspectives for smallholders

• Action-oriented: Using practical methods to actively solve problems, not just talking about ideas, plans, or theories

• Innovation platform: problem solving by participants working regularly together to address common issues and challenges.

Summary


• Impact of aflatoxins have several development dimensions: – post-harvest losses, nutrition,

health, crops, livestock, fish, trade, markets, policies, institutions and politics

• Reduction of aflatoxin will improve human health, increase farm income, improve profitability of animal industries, increase regional and international trade, and reputation of African products in global markets

Ibadan IITA

Tucson

USDA/ARS IITA, USDA, AATF & Doreo have Teamed up to Bring

Aflatoxin Prevention to Africa

Made Possible by Many National Partners in Ministries, Industry, and on the Farm

Nigeria

For more information about aflatoxin biocontrol for Africa, check out: www.aflasafe.com

http://www.entwicklung.at/en/

Technology solutions and opportunities available for abating the aflatoxin challenge

Science

Transcript of Technology solutions and opportunities available for abating the aflatoxin challenge