Nigeria has joined forces with IITA and the World Bank to help contain the contamination of food crops by aflatoxins, as the oil-rich nation aims to make agriculture the main driver of its economy.
The new approach, which includes drawing a road map to tackle aflatoxins, is part of the Commercial Agriculture Development Program (CADP) that is being supported by the World Bank, and implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Cross River and Lagos states.
“It is a major step by the government towards ensuring food safety and food security,” says A.M. Bab andi, National Coordinator of CADP.
Produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxins are fungal contaminants that hurt trade and people’s health, with studies pointing to them as the cause of liver cancer. In some cases, such as in Kenya, aflatoxin-contaminated maize consumed resulted in several deaths. Poultry and fish are particularly vulnerable to aflatoxins, which influence their productivity.
In Nigeria, resource-poor maize farmers face rejection from the premium food market due to aflatoxin contamination.
The collaboration among Nigeria, IITA, and the World Bank will roll out and make available to farmers a biocontrol product called aflasafeTM that would stop the aflatoxin menace.
“This is good news to farmers because they now have a solution to the problem,” says Ranajit B andyopadhyay, IITA Pathologist.
“If farmers apply aflasafeTM, they can sell their maize at premium prices and above all it would guarantee the safety of home-grown food and health of consumers,” he added.
In on-farm research trials in Kaduna state—north central Nigeria—during 2009 and 2010, farmers who treated their fields with aflasafeTM were able to reduce the levels of aflatoxin contamination by about 80 to 90%. The efficacy of aflasafeTM earned the product a provisional registration from NAFDAC.
Stakeholders including farmers at the meeting in Ibadan discussed efforts to stem aflatoxin spread. They unanimously said that a collective action was necessary to tackle aflatoxins, with Nestle considering supporting farmers with training on pre- and post-harvest h andling of maize including storage.
Lucas Akapa, Senior Operations Officer, World Bank, said the meeting was a success as partners agreed “to develop a holistic strategy to help Nigeria fight aflatoxins.”
“At the end, we hope to have a road map which will be driven by Nigerians with the purpose of ending the menace of aflatoxins, enhancing farmers’ income, and guaranteeing food safety,” he says.
END
For more information, please contact:
Ranajit B andyopadhyay, r.b andyopadhyay@cgiar.org
IITA Plant Pathologist
Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (West Africa & Central Africa)
Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)
IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria
About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.
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