Aflatoxins are a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found on agricultural crops such as maize (corn), peanuts, cottonseed, and tree nuts. The main fungi that produce aflatoxins are Aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus, which are abundant in warm and humid regions of the world.
In Tanzania, aflatoxin contamination cases have widely been reported to appear in some few common crops, including maize and groundnuts, resulting most of the relevant research being concentrated on the said prone crops.
But recently, the agricultural experts at the Worldveg have seen the need to launch a key initiative to help counter aflatoxin cases towards the vegetable sub-sector, after realizing the possibility of contamination of the disease in vegetables, the common and popular human consumed food.
Dr Simon Boniface, an Entomologist and Laboratory Manager yesterday told The Guardian during an interview that the ongoing research was being executed in cooperation with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
“In Tanzania, very little research has been conducted to establish the vegetable varieties that are subjected to aflatoxin, but some reports have suggested there are some vegetables and spices that are prone to aflatoxin, and thus we have decided to venture into the relevant research,” he unveiled.
He informed that apart from touching the farmers, the ongoing intervention was majoring efforts to empower the vegetable dealers, those engaging into value addition.
“The vision behind the initiative is to impart the vegetable value addition stakeholders with vital knowledge on how to mitigate the possibility of aflatoxin contamination in their products,” he observed.
For instance, Dr Simon expressed, processing of vegetables incorporates a range of activities, such as dying, processing, storing and packaging, saying all stages can open the door for aflatoxin contamination.
Together with that, the expert observed that since the aflatoxin fungus are living underground, within the plants as well as in the end produce, there’s huge possibility for vegetable varieties to be contaminated, hence a need for specific research and solution.
Records show that more than half of Tanzanians live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. However, these crops are highly susceptible to fungal infestation and aflatoxin contamination—the leading cause of liver disease and liver cancer in Tanzania—and reduces the country's export-earning potential.
To fight against fungal infestation and aflatoxin contamination, the Ministry of Agriculture has so far penned down three deals and two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with different companies for the execution of the Tanzania Initiative for Preventing Aflatoxin Contamination (TANIPAC) project, worth US Dollars 35.3 million (about 81bn/-).
Together with that, several other efforts have been stepped up with other stakeholders in the private sector, international originations, to add muscles in the war against the dangerous fungus in crops.
In the similar constructive role, the IITA has managed to develop aflatoxin biocontrol technology, Aflasafe, which has so far won the Best Innovative Research Project at the World BioProtection Awards in 2022.
The dry spore innovation, one of the Institute’s technologies for solving the problem of aflatoxin contamination in crops such as maize, soybean, and groundnut, won the award in a category shortlisting 38 finalists from 32 different organizations.
_0.jpg?itok=QU87XW8D){kind=tracking}
.jpeg?itok=vCj6bCRe)
