Prevention and control of aflatoxin contamination in value chains: Contribution of GIZ

Slide 101.05.2023 Division „Rural Development and Agriculture“

Prevention and control of aflatoxin contamination

in value chains

Contribution of GIZ

Bruno Schuler

Slide 201.05.2023

Content

Division „Rural Development and Agriculture“

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)

Slide 301.05.2023

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 40 th northern and the 40th southern lines of latitude

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

Slide 401.05.2023

Biological causesMechanical

causes

Quantitative losses

Qualitative losses

Food Losses

Aflatoxin – important factor for food losses


Aflatoxin

AflatoxinAflatoxin

Slide 501.05.2023

Most severely affected countries by aflatoxin


Slide 601.05.2023

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

Slide 701.05.2023

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

Slide 901.05.2023

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

ETHJME

SOM

GHA KAM

KEN

MLI

TGO

KMBNIG

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

Slide 1301.05.2023

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)#

Chipata0.4 – 3435 176.5 28.6 53.6

Lundazi0.7 – 310 63.6 15.8 68.4

Mambwe1.1 – 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

2012/2013 2013/20140

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

2012/2013 2013/20140

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

ControlTreated

Afla

toxi

n (p

pb)

www.iita.org

Aflasafe efficacy in Zambia


96% reductio

n

Maize Groundnut

89% reductio

n

74% reductio

n

84% reductio

n


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

Slide 2301.05.2023

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

Slide 2401.05.2023

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.

Slide 2501.05.2023

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" Page 26

Example: Transect Walk

Think out of the box!

Slide 27

Small Scale Farmer

Production

Market lossSupply shortageDiscarded GrainLitigationHuman health impact

Sale to local market

Market lossReduced milk productivityLivestock disease burdenReduced prices of productsDiscarded products

Human health impactDisease burdenReduced productivity

Contaminated livestock products

Own consumptionLivestock feed

Export - oriented Farmer

Production

Human health impactDisease burdenReduced productivity

Own consumptionSale to trader

Export

Quality standards not met

Maize: Most aflatoxin-contaminated products remain part

of the food chain within developing countries

Slide 28

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

Presentations & Public Speaking

Prevention and control of aflatoxin contamination in value chains: Contribution of GIZ