IITA partners with Harvestfield Industries Limited for the commercialization of Aflasafe, a biocontrol product, in Nigeria

In January 2018, IITA signed a 5 year Technology Transfer and Licensing Agreement (exclusive, non-transferable right to exploit the Know How and Licenses for manufacturing and distribution of Aflasafe in Nigeria) with Harvestfield Industries Limited.

Harvestfield Industries Limited was founded in 2000, commencing business in 2001, mainly importing and distributing agrochemicals and agricultural spraying equipment. Harvestfield also represents international companies in Nigeria such as Bayer, Dow, BASF and East-West Seeds, and has entered joint ventures with external partners. Harvestfield has 18 field offices/warehouses in all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

Aflasafe™ is a revolutionary biocontrol product, developed by IITA, the United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and national partners, which reduces the prevalence of aflatoxins in treated maize and groundnut by 80% – 99% from farm to fork. Following years of painstaking scientific work to develop products tailored for Africa and firmly establish their efficacy, Aflasafe is ready to be manufactured and distributed to farmers at scale.

The Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) Program funded jointly by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is designed to carefully and efficiently identify strategic options for partnership with private companies or government entities, execute those partnerships and help ensure the products reach millions of farmers.

Media reports in 2018 reveal aflatoxin in Nigeria’s food has an alarming death toll, on top of the crippling economic cost it exacts. The effects of aflatoxin on Africa’s health and wealth are immense. Aflatoxin causes an estimated 5–30% of liver cancer worldwide, the highest incidence being in Africa (30%). An invisible poison that you cannot see, taste or smell, aflatoxin suppresses the immune system and stunts child growth. Poisoning can begin even before birth through mother-to-baby transmission. Thereafter, many young children continue ingesting the toxin through bottle and breast milk – since aflatoxin gets passed on through our bodies from food to milk – and later through their earliest solid mouthfuls as they are weaned onto maize- or groundnut-based diets. It is an unforgiving and cumulative poison, piling up in our bodies as we continue to eat and drink contaminated foods. So dire is the problem that in some countries, studies show nearly all (more than 95%) of the children under five have aflatoxin in their bodies, indicating high aflatoxin exposure even at this early age.

Internally, approximately 40% of the produce in African markets exceeds the aflatoxin maxima allowed. Externally, Africa potentially loses up to USD 670 million annually in export opportunities. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, Nigeria’s groundnut exports have tumbled to near zero, from a high of 291,000 tonnes in 1970 to a mere 1,983 tonnes in 2013. According to the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa, aflatoxin is the most highly probable cause of this massive economic loss. Standing on solid science, Aflasafe is the fruit of more than a decade-and-a-half of dedicated publicly funded research by IITA and partners in and out of Africa.

The Nigerian product, Aflasafe™, was the pioneer in IITA’s suite of country customised Aflasafe products for Africa. It was developed for Nigeria by IITA in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, University of Bonn (Germany) and University of Ibadan. Since its inception in Nigeria, Aflasafe has spread further afield in Africa. IITA’s Aflasafe research currently straddles 16 African countries, of which ATTC is targeting 11 for commercialisation. Aflasafe is managed by IITA’s Business Incubation Platform (BIP). Aflasafe is the first product from BIP to the private sector, in a bid to assure access and to ensure sustainable availability of technologies and products from IITA research. Over the next two years, more IITA products will be commercialised in Nigeria through BIP to provide farmers with products which give them competitive advantage or improve their livelihoods.

Aflasafe market in Nigeria is at the infancy level. To achieve impact and reach the intended beneficiaries, significant investments are required in the market development and in the investment of a manufacturing plant capable of producing at scale. Therefore, there is a need to provide limited protection to investors interested to venture into this business.

Dr Kenton Dashiell, IITA’s Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery stated that “In the fight against aflatoxin in food, the private sector is extremely crucial in ensuring our market-ready product is available and accessible, thus reaching the farmers and markets we need it to reach”.

According to Mr. Abdou Konlambigue, Managing Director of IITA’s Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization initiative (ATTC), the partnership “paves the way to ensuring sustainable availability and accessibility of Aflasafe throughout the country. We are committed to ensuring this partnership is a success in order to contribute to making food safe, and to improve the competitiveness of local produce in the regional and international markets.”

IITA is working with the licensee and other development partners to create awareness about the negative effects of aflatoxins and the management of aflatoxin contamination using Aflasafe. This includes the development of communication tools and their dissemination though various channels at community, district and national levels. IITA is also supporting the licensee to train various actors, including public extension officers, representatives of farmer’s organizations and farmers. IITA is also helping to increase the reach of the product for benefitting smallholder farmers by initiating and facilitating innovative public-private partnerships in the groundnut value chain.

During the reporting period, HIL continued to engage the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to support the food safety agenda through the accessibility of pre-harvest solutions for farmers and the enforcement of food safety regulations in the public sector procurement. As a result, FMARD placed an order for 950 MT of Aflasafe to support farmer education on this new technology and show the benefit. Besides, HIL has successfully sealed and delivered an additional order of 160 MT of Aflasafe to commodity associations producing maize and groundnut. At the end of the reporting period, a total of 1121 MT of Aflasafe had been sold in the country.

HIL is investing close to $4,000,000 in a new modern manufacturing plant to supply the local market. The company will start commercial production from the plant during the 2021 agricultural season.

The genetic material of Aflasafe (i.e., the non-toxin producing strains of Aspergillus flavus) came from Nigerian soil, maize crops. The project has consciously provided benefit to the Nigerian people for example:

- In 2017, two staff from the National Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) were supported to conduct their PhD research.

- An independent external evaluation of the AgResults Aflasafe project concluded that average smallholder annual net income from maize increased by $318 or 16 percent per farmer. Smallholder consumption of Aflasafe-treated maize increased on average by 20 g per day or 13 percent of their daily consumption. These demonstrate health and income benefits achieved by farmers by using Aflasafe. (Reference: Narayan, Tulika; Denise Mainville; Judy Geyer; Kate Hausdorff; and David Cooley. 2019. AgResults Impact Evaluation Report: Nigeria Aflasafe™ Challenge Project. Rockville, Maryland: Abt Associates).