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The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in collaboration with the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) have for the past year been implementing a project to map the occurrence, significance and distribution of Aflatoxin contamination in Malawi and enhance national capacity for its management in food. This study covers major groundnut producing districts of Malawi.
A total of 1708 samples of groundnuts and maize inclusive of grains and processed foods were collected from farmer’s households, local market vendors, shops, supermarkets and warehouses. Like wise, 1053 soil samples were collected from the farms where grain samples were obtained.
Grain samples were prepared for analysis using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) procedure. Soil samples were plated on media culture to determine the abundance of A. flavus. Results revealed aflatoxin contamination in groundnut samples ranging from 0.0 ppb to as high as 3871 ppb and in maize 0.0 ppb to 1335 ppb.
This research has discovered the facts about:
• distribution of aflatoxin in Malawi;
• tracked crop materials rejected for export on the basis of high aflatoxin accumulation to establish if they form part of peoples diets;
• established farmer perceptions of mycotoxins in the food chain and developed a GIS based risk map for aflatoxin.
In its findings, the document:
• indicates that aflatoxin is a significant problem in Malawi, both in local markets, as well as in shops and supermarkets, which requires urgent and concerted action.
• reveals that, in general, aflatoxin contamination was a bigger problem in groundnut than in maize samples from similar sources in Malawi for the reported period.
This study has implications for planning an integrated approach for management of aflatoxin contamination in food in sub-Saharan Africa. |
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