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 <div class="title"><h3>7.12 - Aflasafe to prevent aflatoxin contamination of grain in Africa</h3><br><h3 class="ch-owner">Lakshya Khurana, University of Guelph, Canada</h3></div>
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<p><b>Related video(s)</b>: Managing aflatoxins in maize during drying and storage, Managing aflatoxins in maize before and during harvest, Managing aflatoxins in groundnuts during drying and storage, (Source: Access Agriculture)</p>
 <p><i> https://www.accessagriculture.org/managing-aflatoxins-maize-during-drying-and-storage?cat_id=1499</i></p>
<p><i> https://www.accessagriculture.org/managing-aflatoxins-maize-and-during-harvest?cat_id=1499</i></p>
<p><i> https://www.accessagriculture.org/managing-aflatoxins-groundnuts-during-drying-and-storage?cat_id=1499</i></p>

<p>Suggested citation for this chapter.</p>
<p>Khurana,L. (2022) Aflasafe to prevent aflatoxin contamination of grain in Africa. In Farmpedia, The Encyclopedia for Small Scale Farmers. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.farmpedia.org</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Background</h1>
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          <p>Crops such as sorghum, maize, groundnuts (peanuts), rice, and cassava can become infected with fungal pathogens including Aspergillus (PACA, 2015). Aflatoxin is a toxin (mycotoxin) produced by Aspergillus fungi, especially Aspergillus flavus (Ortega-Beltran and Bandyopadhyay, 2021).  These crop pathogens are found in soils, and can infect grain, including legume and cereal crops.</P>

 <p>Aflatoxin can cause serious health issues among humans, animals, and even plants. (Johnson et al., 2018). They are mainly problematic in warm and humid regions of the world (Senghor et al., 2020). Hence, Africa being one of the warmest and humid continents, faces the problem of aflatoxin. It affects the crops prior to being harvested. Even in storage the crops can also be affected if the conditions are suitable for aflatoxin to flourish (Senghor et al., 2020). If the crops get contaminated then it really harms the farmers since they cannot sell those crops, and all the inputs and labour would have been wasted. Aflatoxin affects the overall growth of the crops, therefore making them unsellable (Johnson et al., 2018).</P>

 <p>Consumption of aflatoxin by eating infected food is believed to lead to various health issues among humans like liver cancer/failure, immune system suppression, growth retardation and rapid progression of HIV/AIDS (Johnson et al., 2018). Other than humans, it also affects the animals that are exposed to it. Reduced growth rate and productivity are the most common effects in livestock consuming aflatoxins (Johnson et al., 2018).  
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Introduction to Aflasafe</h1>
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          <p>In Africa, it was common to lose crops to aflatoxin, so Aflasafe was introduced as a measure to combat it (Senghor et al., 2020. Aflasafe consists of friendly fungal spores of Aspergillus that never create aflatoxin; they can be delivered or transported to farmers on sorghum grains that have been recently harvested after the application of Aflasafe. The same approach can be used for maize and other cereal crops. This initial wave of spores begins to grow on the sorghum seeds a few days after treatment and immediately produces a large number of additional spores. The helpful fungus occupy the target plant, leaving no room for any further pathogenic strains to infect treated crops during flowering and seed production. The great majority of Aspergillus fungus present on the developing crop are hence safe. The four friendly strains that make up each Aflasafe formulation are all highly effective at reducing toxin levels. Aflasafe is exceptionally resilient and efficient under a variety of circumstances and environments because of these 4 types of friendly strains included (Johnson et al., 2018).</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Application timing </h1>
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          <p>Aflasafe is distributed to farmers 2-3 weeks before their target crop flowers (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020). Typically 10 kg of Aflasafe is spread on each hectare by throwing handfuls of the product onto the fields. Farmers might need to consult their local Aflasafe distributor for advice or be aware of the specific characteristics of their formulation. The location also affects exact application times (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020). As general guidance, the best time to apply Aflasafe is when it is raining or when the soil is damp, as these conditions promote spore growth (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020). Aflasafe has also been demonstrated to significantly lower aflatoxin levels even in drought-prone places by thriving as moisture becomes available (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020).  For aflatoxin, there are primarily two danger windows (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020): the first window is when the crop is being produced by the plant. Aflatoxin-producing fungi are more likely to move into the plant if the weather is excessively hot and dry or if pests are attacking since unwell and stressed plants are more likely to become infected. The second infection window is when hot, humid weather might promote the fungi's rapid growth. This can occur to a fully grown crop in the field, but it is also quite possible that it will become an issue while food is being stored months later. Due to this, it is crucial that any product designed to fight aflatoxin continues to function, such as Aflasafe, long after harvest (PACA, 2015; IITA, 2020).</p>
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       <h1 style="background: #FBB03B;padding: 15px;font-weight: 600;color: #000;font-size: 22px;margin:unset;text-align:center;">Benefits of Aflasafe</h1>
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          <p>Based on considerable studies across Africa, it can be said that Aflasafe is one of the most effective measures to help the crops being affected by aflatoxin, protecting farmers from losing months of hard work, improving profitability and food safety. As one example, Aflasafe (Aflasafe SN01) was shown to be an essential extra tool for managing aflatoxin in groundnut (peanut) and maize in Senegal (Senghor et al., 2020). Senegal's ability to produce safe legal groundnuts would enable exports to rise from 25,000 to 210,000 tonnes, generating an additional $300 million in yearly revenue (Senghor et al., 2020).</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Critical Analysis</h1>
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          <p>Studies show that there are a large number of farmers in Africa that have no idea about the existence of Aflasafe, and even if they knew, they would likely not have access to it. Sadly, even if the farmers did have access to Aflasafe, they would not have the financial resources to actually acquire it. To make sure that it is accessible to everyone, proper access to education and information distribution is required. Local governments and organizations could provide the farmers with Aflasafe at a subsidised rate and expand distribution programs (Ortega-Beltran and Bandyopadhyay, 2021). The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has licenced BAMTAARE SA, a private enterprise in Senegal that works with more than 70,000 smallholder farmers, to manufacture and distribute Aflasafe (Aflasafe SN01) in order to facilitate its widespread usage following registration. Smallholder farmers in particular and the entire population of Senegal will profit from the technique (Senghor et al., 2020).</p>     
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Helpful Links To Get Started </h1>
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The story of Aflatoxin and Aflasafe (International Institute for Tropical Agriculture):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-ZBWLYGSuY
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          <p>Aflasafe in Nigeria - YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sipMrcFNmTE
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          <p>Aflasafe YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCux7qcOzLELrE5D3aD0c4ow
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          <p>What is aflatoxin? How it affects plants, poultry and fish? How to prevent it? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvZb2127aZk&ab_channel=IITAVideos
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          <p>Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) brochure:
https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/PACA_aflatoxin-impacts-paper1.pdf</p>
          <p>Aflasafe. How does it work? International Institute for Tropical Agriculture: https://aflasafe.com/aflasafe/how-does-it-work/</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">References</h1>
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          <p>PACA (2015) Aflatoxin impacts and potential solutions in agriculture, trade, and health. An Introduction to Aflatoxin Impacts in Africa. Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA). Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/PACA_aflatoxin-impacts-paper1.pdf</p>
          <p>IITA (2020)  Aflasafe. How does it work? International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://aflasafe.com/aflasafe/how-does-it-work/</p>
          <p>Johnson, A. M., Fulton, J. R., Abdoulaye, T., Ayedun, B., Widmar, N. J. O., Akande, A., Bandyopadhyay, R., & Manyong, V. (2018). Aflatoxin awareness and AFLASAFE adoption potential of Nigerian smallholder maize farmers World Mycotoxin Journal 11(3), 437-446.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7797632/</p>
          <p>Ortega-Beltran, A., & Bandyopadhyay, R. (2021) Contributions of integrated aflatoxin management strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in various African countries. Global Food Security 30, 100559. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912421000687</p>
          <p>Senghor, L. A., Végétaux, L. D. de P., Ortega-Beltran, A., Agriculture, I. I. of T., Atehnkeng, J., Station, C. R., Callicott, K. A., Cotty, P. J., (2020) Aflasafe SN01 is a valuable tool to mitigate aflatoxin contamination of both maize and groundnut cultivated in Senegal. Plant Disease 104, 510-520. https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/full/10.1094/PDIS-03-19-0575-RE </p>
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