AGRA

Mubarak Seidu is Deputy Managing Director at Antika Limited, an agribusiness firm in Wa in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Antika aggregates maize, rice and soya beans from over 4,000 smallholder farmers (36.3% of them women) for sale to wholesalers and food processors.  

For five years, Antika has sought to sell maize and groundnuts to multinational food processors and on the Ghana Commodity Exchange. But, like several other aggregators and farmers in Africa, Antika’s efforts have been hindered by the incidence of aflatoxin, a cancer-causing toxin that occurs before and after crop harvest. Foods susceptible to aflatoxin contamination are staples such as maize, groundnuts, millet and sorghum as well as animal products such as meat, eggs, poultry, and milk which are largely consumed by both humans and animals in most African countries.

Since 2018, Antika has been supporting its smallholder farmers to adhere to good agricultural practices (GAPs) and apply aflasafe, a biological control product to their maize and groundnuts fields to reduce the incidence of aflatoxin-producing fungi. According to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), aflatoxin levels of below 10 parts per billion (ppb) in maize and groundnut are safe for human consumption.

An aflasafe demonstration field set up by Antika for farmers at Kampala in the Wa Municipality in the 2018 cropping season produced maize with aflatoxin levels of 1.0 ppb. With these results, Seidu says, “Antika is now ready to produce and sell aflatoxin-safe maize to the multinationals and on the Commodity Exchange for premium prices.” He recommends that, “Aflasafe should be put on the Government’s Input Subsidy Programme to enable farmers to access, try and adopt it for the production of aflatoxin-safe grains and legumes.”

Aflasafe use is not limited to farmers in the Upper West Region. In the Eastern Region, Peter Atter, Agriculture Extension Officer in the Yilo Krobo District run two aflasafe demonstration fields for farmers through the NASAM project at Obawaley in the 2019 cropping season. Maize from the aflasafe treated fields had safe aflatoxin levels of 1.28ppb and 1.40 ppbs, respectively.  However, the aflatoxin levels could rise if the maize is not properly dried or stored after harvest.

According to Atter, “A fish-meal producing company in Tema has since expressed interest in purchasing 700 (100kg) bags of aflatoxin-safe maize weekly from the farmers. We are therefore mobilizing more farmers in the region to produce to meet the order.”      

The increasing awareness of farmers and aggregators on the need to produce aflatoxin-safe crops for market can be attributed to the National Aflatoxin Sensitization and management (NASAM) project, and the Developing National Policy and Technical Regulation for Aflatoxin Control in Food and Feed project implemented with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) from 2018 to 2020.  Both projects are working to mitigate the detrimental effects of aflatoxin on health, food and nutrition security, trade and economic growth.

The NASAM project is working to catalyze and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation by improving food safety and security through increased knowledge about aflatoxins, its impacts and management among value chain actors – farmers, aggregators, retailers, processors and consumers. This includes the organization of sensitization programmes, media campaigns and promotion of new technologies that can be used to reduce the incidence of aflatoxins in food crops.

Emmanuel Amanor, a farmer who participated in the aflasafe trials says, “I am ready to use the aflasafe to produce aflatoxin safe maize to feed my family and sell for extra income to buyers who also appreciate healthy products.”  

The Developing National Policy and Technical Regulation for Aflatoxin Control in Food and Feed project, on the other hand, seeks to strengthen government multi-sectoral coordination, and mutual accountability in the agricultural sector for the efficient management of aflatoxin in Ghana in line with the African Union Commission’s Partnership for Aflatoxin Control  strategy.

The project is jointly implemented by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI) and the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). Collaborating institutions include the Ministries of Health; Finance; Trade and Industry; Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; the Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Food Research Institute, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Grains Council; Consumer Protection Agency; Farmers Organisations Network in Ghana; Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons; Parliamentary Select Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs; University of Ghana; Ghana News Agency; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; and EatSafe Ghana.

Dr. Rose Omari, Senior Research Scientist at CSIR-STEPRI and Coordinator of the Development of National Policy and Technical Regulation for Aflatoxin Control in Food and Feed project states, “Aflatoxin is highly prevalent in many food products produced and consumed in Ghana. But, knowledge on aflatoxin issues including prevention, food handling, consumer safety and health impact is limited with few people involved in controlling it. Research is mainly on detection of aflatoxin with inadequate locally generated data on the relationship between aflatoxin and health, and nutrition. There is the need to develop a policy to coordinate aflatoxin related activities and regulation to mitigate the effects of aflatoxin on our health, trade and economy.”

Work towards developing the policy and technical regulation started with the establishment of a National Steering Committee to spearhead aflatoxin management issues and implementation of the policy. This was followed by the conduct of a situational analysis to understand the extent of the aflatoxin problem and key issues in the country; a survey to determine the extent of research done on aflatoxin; and a stakeholder workshop to share and validate findings from the situational analysis, gather feedback and develop an action plan for implementing the policy and regulation when passed.

On October 9, 2020, a draft technical regulation on aflatoxin management in maize developed by the project was laid on the Floor of Parliament. The regulation which is expected to be passed within 21 days (by November 10, 2020) will enable the implementation of the technical regulation including the conduct of tests and inspections by the PPRSD and other stakeholders to ensure that maize produced and offered for sale is aflatoxin-safe.

Eric Bentsil Quaye, Head of the Ghana Seed Inspection Division of the PPRSD, MoFA and Coordinator of the project states, “We are excited about the relatively short time it has taken to get the regulation laid in Parliament in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. The regulation will enable us to align with the Plant and Fertilizer Act 803 and intensify tests to ensure farmers access quality seed to produce aflatoxin-safe maize.” “Nestle and other big buyers who have been hindered by the high levels of aflatoxin from accessing maize locally can now look forward to buying from the Ghanaian market,” adds Quaye.

Clara Gyamera Asomani, Secretary of the Madina Market Maize Sellers Association who participated in an aflatoxin sensitization programme organized by the GSA says, “We did not know there was a disease associated with maize. We used to sell maize that did not look attractive to local feed millers. We will no longer buy and sell infested maize.”

With a policy and technical regulation in place, and over 5,000 smallholder farmers and 2,000 value chain actors sensitized on how to produce and market aflatoxin-safe food and feed, the foundation has been laid to mitigate the effects of aflatoxin on Ghana’s agricultural transformation agenda for enhanced food security, nutrition and economic growth.

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