Plan to stem the tide of aflatoxins on track: minister

Arusha. Tanzania will soon produce a biocontrol product against aflatoxins, a poisonous chemical which grows in food grains.
The minister for Agriculture, Mr Japhet Hasunga, revealed here on Monday that a private company will soon invest in a manufacturing plant.
“The same company (he fell short of disclosing the name) is organising  the marketing and distribution of this life-saving product in the country,” he said.
The minister, who was gracing the opening of a conference on the fight against the menace in Africa, said Aflasafe TZ01 will be locally manufactured, marketed and distributed to the farmers.
The project is implemented in Tanzania and 10 other African countries under the Alfasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Programme.
He said the collaboration between research, the private sector and policy makers in the endeavour would catalyse the fight against aflatoxins which, according to him, threatened food security.
“It is with great satisfaction that I report that the bio-control product, known as Aflasafe TZ01, has been developed and registered for commercial use in Tanzania”, he stated.
Development and registration of the bio-control product followed many years of collaboration between local and international research organisations with many of the trials conducted in Tanzania.
The development of the technology was largely spearheaded by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), an agricultural research think tank based in Nigeria.
Experts say Alfasafe can drastically reduce aflatoxin in crops through its native non-toxic strains ‘Aspergillus flavus’ that out-competes toxin when applied in the field.
“When Alfasafe is correctly applied and all facilitative conditions are met, farmers consistently achieve 80 to 100 per cent reduction in aflatoxin contamination in their maize and groundnut fields,” one of them said.
Aflatoxin, a poison produced by the fungus ‘Aspergillus flavus’ which resides in soil, contaminates up to 65 per cent of maize and groundnut crops. Other  crops affected include melon seeds and rice.
Other experts at the meeting feared that the menace could deal a major blow to food security in Tanzania and within the East Africa, region since maize was the leading staple food.
Tanzania is a leading producer of maize and groundnuts in the EA region, producing 6 million and 1 million metric tons respectively according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation ( FAO).
Aflatoxicosis outbreak was first reported in the country in 2016.
To address the crisis, the government recently secured funds and launched the Tanzania Initiatives for Preventing Aflatoxin Contamination (TANIPAC), a country-wide project targeting maize and groundnuts.