Kenya: nation receives Sh40 million to fight aflatoxin in maize

Kenya has received Sh40 million to fight aflatoxin in cereals, setting the stage for increased food security and reduction in losses incurred by maize farmers who have in the past lost their harvest.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAid) gave Kenya the money to facilitate research on bio-control methods in Eastern and Coast provinces to boost the fight against aflatoxin contamination that has in the past killed people.

Scientists in the United States have identified a local non-toxic form of fungus that is responsible for aflatoxin that could be biologically used to control maize contamination.

Dr Wilson Songa, the Agriculture secretary, said bio-control method had become a success elsewhere; therefore the research would not take much time.

Kenya Agriculture Research Institute has already started working on the research that is expected to take two years.

The remedy is likely to save the country from food insecurity and also averts maize farmers loses worth millions of shillings which have in the past been experienced.

"Once the research has been accomplished then as the Ministry of Agriculture we will strive to ensure that no more loses are incurred as far aflatoxin contaminations are concerned, " said Dr Songa.

Early this year, in parts of Eastern and Coast provinces, hundreds of thousands of bags of maize were contaminated turning what was thought to be a bumper harvest into a nightmare and further aggravating the plight of the farmers in the drought-stricken provinces.

Aflatoxin is a silent killer that causes liver cancer and suppresses the immune system. It also retards growth and development in children.

People exposed to very high aflatoxin concentrations experience liver failure and rapid death.

From 2004 to 2006, nearly 200 Kenyans have died after consuming contaminated maize.

Give hope

However, the bio control remedy - a form of pesticide sprayed on plants - will give hope to the maize farmers in Eastern and Coast provinces, a region where aflatoxin fungus is thought to be generic in the soil.

A single application of the chemical through spray two-to-three weeks before maize flowering is sufficient to prevent aflatoxin contamination during and after harvest.

According to a plant pathologist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, the bio control spray's ability to continue working even when the grain was in storage ensured the safety of maize from aflatoxin contamination.

"These atoxigenic strains are also carried in the grains from the field to the stores, thus ensuring that the harvested maize does not get contaminated," said Dr Bandyopadhyay. "So, even if the grains are not stored properly or get wet during or after harvest, as is happening this year, they continue to prevent aflatoxin contamination during the post-harvest period," she said.

The country is one of the world's hotspots for aflatoxin.

Research has shown that in areas where aflatoxin is a persistent and a serious problem, there is a very high occurrence of one of the most toxic strains of A. flavus in the world, the S. strain.

In Africa, the S. strain has been only found to be dominant in the severely affected regions of Kenya.

In the US, bio-control with atoxigenics has successfully reduced its contamination.

In Nigeria, the use of the pesticide was given a nod and IITA has obtained provisional registration of the technology under the name Alfasafe, a mixture of four atoxigenic strains of Nigerian origin.

According to Dr Bandyopadhyay, in 2009, maize farmers in Nigeria were able to reduce aflatoxin contamination by 80 per cent by broadcasting 10 kilogrammes of Aflasafe per hectare, 2-3 weeks before maize flowering.