{"id":17212,"date":"2026-06-20T12:55:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-showcases-aflasafe-ke01-and-transformation-research-to-top-officials-of-usaid-and-kenya-agriculture-ministry\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T17:59:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:59:26","slug":"iita-showcases-aflasafe-ke01-and-transformation-research-to-top-officials-of-usaid-and-kenya-agriculture-ministry","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-showcases-aflasafe-ke01-and-transformation-research-to-top-officials-of-usaid-and-kenya-agriculture-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA showcases aflasafe KE01\u2122 and transformation research to top officials of USAID and Kenya Agriculture Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"IITA was one of the three\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the CGIAR website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cgiar.org\/\">CGIAR<\/a>\u00a0centers invited to showcase its technologies\/research efforts to top officials from Kenya\u2019s Agriculture Ministry and\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the USAID website\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usaid.gov\/\">USAID<\/a>\u00a0that included the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, Hon. Willy Bett and the USAID Assistant to the Administrator Bureau of Food Security, Beth Dunford.\n<div id=\"attachment_1316\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"http:\/\/bulletin.iita.org\/index.php\/2016\/09\/21\/iita-showcases-aflasafe-ke01-transformation-research-top-officials-usaid-kenya-agriculture-ministry\/1024_-ranaj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-1316\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1316 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_-Ranaj.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of IITA\u2019s Ranajit Bandyopadhyay (right): (L-R) KALRO Director Eliud Kiplimo Kireger, Kenya\u2019s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Willy Bett, and USAID\u2019s Beth Dunford\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1316\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1316\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Listening keenly to IITA\u2019s Ranajit Bandyopadhyay (right): (L-R) KALRO Director Eliud Kiplimo Kireger,\u00a0Kenya\u2019s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Willy Bett, and USAID\u2019s Beth Dunford.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThis was at an event at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (<a title=\"Visit the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kalro.org\/\">KALRO<\/a>) in Nairobi, Kenya, to launch a\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the National Horticulture Traceability System website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kenyahorticulture.net\/traceability.html\">National Horticulture Traceability System<\/a>\u00a0for the country held on 12 September.\n\nIITA presented two technologies which had received support from USAID. These were\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the aflasafe page on the Aflasfe.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aflasafe.com\/aflasafe\">aflasafe<\/a>\u00a0KE01\u2122, an innovative technology to control aflatoxin in Kenya, and transformation of banana for resistance to\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the banana Xanthomonas Wilt page on Wikipedia\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Banana_Xanthomonas_wilt\">banana Xanthomonas Wilt<\/a>\u00a0(BXW).\n\nAt the event,\u00a0<a title=\"Visit Eliud Kiplimo Kireger&apos;s page on the Kalro website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kalro.org\/director-general\">Eliud Kiplimo Kireger<\/a>, Director General\/CEO of KALRO, noted the complementary relationship between CGIAR centers and KALRO in developing and transferring beneficial technologies to farmers. He further praised the two technologies showcased by IITA which he said were addressing serious challenges facing the farming communities in the country and East and Central African region.\n\n\u201cAflasafe KE01\u2122 is a revolutionary biocontrol product, which consistently reduces\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the aflatoxin page on the Cornell University website\" href=\"http:\/\/poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu\/toxicagents\/aflatoxin\/aflatoxin.html\">aflatoxin<\/a>\u00a0in treated food and feed by 80\u201399%. The technology was first developed by the United States Department of Agriculture\u2013Agriculture Research Services (<a title=\"Visit the the United States Department of Agriculture\u2013Agriculture Research Services website\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ars.usda.gov\/\">USDA-ARS<\/a>). IITA in partnership with USDA-ARS and support from USAID has led in the efforts to adapt it to Africa. In Kenya, IITA and KALRO have developed a local product called aflasafe KE01\u2122 and are putting up a modular plant for its manufacture in KALRO Katumani. The plant will also serve the whole East African region,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIITA in partnership with KALRO and Uganda\u2019s National Agriculture Research Organization (<a title=\"Visit Uganda\u2019s National Agriculture Research Organization website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.naro.go.ug\/\">NARO<\/a>) is developing transgenic banana varieties resistant to bacterial wilt disease, which is a deadly disease devastating banana production in Kenya and East Africa. KALRO with IITA will be testing these banana in a confined field trial in Busia soon,\u201d Kireger said.\n\nKenya is a hotspot for aflatoxin contamination with reported multiple aflatoxicosis outbreaks often resulting in fatalities. For example, in 2004 over 100 people in the country died after consuming highly contaminated maize.\n\nThe team from IITA was led by Director General\u00a0<a title=\"Visit Nteranya Sanginga&apos;s profile page on the IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/sanginga-nteranya-e\/\">Nteranya Sanginga<\/a>; Deputy Director General for Partnership for Delivery\u00a0<a title=\"Visit Kenton Dashiell&apos;s profile page on the IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/dashiell-kenton\/\">Kenton Dashiell<\/a>; Kenya Country Representative and Deputy Director for Eastern Africa\u00a0<a title=\"Visit Leena Tripathi&apos;s profile page on the IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/tripathi-leena\/\">Leena Tripathi<\/a>; IITA\u2019s Principal Pathologist and Aflasafe Project Leader\u00a0<a title=\"Visit the Ranajit Bandyopadhyay profile page on the IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/bandyopadhyay-ranajit\/\">Ranajit Bandyopadhyay<\/a>; and Aflasafe Project Leader for East Africa\u00a0<a title=\"Visit Charity Mutegi&apos;s profile page on the IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/mutegi-charity\/\">Charity Mutegi<\/a>. Afterwards IITA and KALRO signed a Technology Transfer Agreement on aflasafe Ke01\u2122.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IITA was one of the three CGIAR centers invited to showcase its technologies\/research efforts to top officials from Kenya\u2019s Agriculture Ministry and USAID.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17213,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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