Safeguarding Africa’s Crops: Natural Solutions for Healthier Harvests

Nairobi, 9 June 2025 (IITA) – Hidden toxins are poisoning Africa’s staple crops and climate change is accelerating the crisis.

Aflatoxin – a naturally occurring poison produced by certain fungi, especially Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus – is contaminating staple crops, posing a risk to food security, health and trade. About 25% of the crops produced in tropical and subtropical regions are contaminated. Maize and groundnuts often exceed global safety limits by 100-fold.

Cancer-causing aflatoxin contamination is common in many staple crops. From maize, groundnuts, sorghum, millets to chilies, all these have become killer foods all because of aflatoxin contamination.

Research indicates that repeated exposure to aflatoxin-contaminated food leads to liver cancer in adults and is a key contributor to wasting and stunting in children. The United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) says 40% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are stunted which can be associated with impaired brain development.

The high costs of an invisible poison

Aflatoxins affect human and livestock health and compromise nutrition, food security, and trade.

According to the World Health Organisation annually more than 130 000 people in Africa fall ill and die from eating contaminated food.

“The high exposure to toxins has, at times, led to tragic health outcomes, including immediate death. Unfortunately, the link often goes unnoticed because there is little awareness about these invisible toxins in our food,” says Dr. Alejandro Ortega-Beltran, a Senior Plant Pathologist and Head of Pathology and Mycotoxin /Aflasafe Unit at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Food-borne illnesses are responsible for $15 billion in medical expenses in Africa, according to the World Bank which estimates it drains $16 billion in lost productivity across the continent.

“Aflatoxins are an invisible poison that could be present in the food we eat,” warns Jane Kamau, the Scaling & Agribusiness Specialist at IITA.

“Aflatoxin contamination is taken for granted because it takes expensive and inaccessible lab tests to know its presence in food crops,” explains Ms. Kamau. “Aflatoxins are not an obvious thing like Fall Armyworm attack that you can see in maize in the field by the time symptoms appear it is too late, often at the point of sale.”

Aflatoxin contamination occurs on the farm and after crops have been harvested as the aflatoxin causing fungi are naturally found in the soil. Climate change impacts like droughts and hotter climates, have accentuated the conditions for the poison producing fungi to thrive. Furthermore, high moisture during harvest, inadequate drying and storage of crops, as well as poor farming practices in sub-Saharan Africa increase risks of aflatoxin contamination.

Improved scientific testing methods have enabled detection and surveillance of aflatoxins in livestock and crops.

“We are now able to detect aflatoxins in common food crops,” Ms. Kamau said, adding “You can imagine what maize is to Africa. Every household is eating maize in countries like Kenya and groundnuts are part of every meal in Uganda.”

Scientists at IITA have a solution: Aflasafe, a natural formulation that reduces the prevalence of toxigenic fungi in the field and throughout storage.

Developed in collaboration with partners in the United States and several African countries, Aflasafe has been adopted for use in Africa with about 12 countries currently using the product which cuts aflatoxin contamination by 80 to 100%. However, Aflasafe has been poorly adopted across Africa because of lack of awareness and inconsistent enforcement of food safety regulations.

Aflasafe is a flagship product that is part of the CGIAR’s Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) which seeks to enhance the productivity, resilience, and sustainability of priority farming systems. The SFP promotes integrated agronomy, plant health, and farming system solutions.

Ms. Kamau said Aflasafe helps farmers reduce quality losses caused by aflatoxin contamination while ensuring crop health. It works by increasing beneficial fungi in the field while reducing the bad fungi that causes aflatoxins.

The social and economic impact of aflatoxin contamination is widespread. In 2004 Kenya was hit by a serious aflatoxin contamination where 124 people died after consuming contaminated maize. While trade exports of groundnuts have been suspended and banned in East and Southern Africa as a result of aflatoxin contamination.

Dr. Ortega-Beltran, laments that sub-Saharan Africa has extremely highly toxic fungi compared to other regions which produce more aflatoxin. Aflatoxin contamination in maize, groundnuts and sorghum in Africa is oftentimes higher than in Europe and the United States. In many parts of Africa the aflatoxin standard is up to 40 ppb compared to Europe and the United States at 4 ppb and 20 ppb, respectively.

“What is extremely dangerous is that some fungi can produce extremely high concentrations, say 10,000 ppb. We see crops with extremely high levels of aflatoxin in African countries,” he said.

Apart from fungi being a key driver of high aflatoxin levels, poor storage of crops, insect and rodent infestations create the perfect environment for increased aflatoxin contamination.

Policy enforcement will promote safe food

Dr. Ortega-Beltran notes that despite concerns about food safety, there is little awareness and policy support in scaling out science solutions to food contamination like Aflasafe.

“Maybe because aflatoxins are not visible to the eye, many people do not know about the problem, including consumers and policy makers,” he said.

Getting a policy push to scale bio solutions to aflatoxin contamination is key. Kamau reiterates that it is only at crop harvest time pending trade that aflatoxin testing is done, otherwise people consume contaminated food and fall ill never to suspect aflatoxin contamination.

In Kenya there is great awareness about aflatoxins with strong policies in place but there is a problem. Ms. Kamau worries that wide awareness about aflatoxins in Kenya has not translated into change of action in the uptake of contamination prevention solutions like Aflasafe.

Dr. Ortega-Beltran concurs:

“Talking about these dangerous toxins, there’s nothing as potent in terms of carcinogenicity as aflatoxins. It is incredible that governments are not doing more. This should be receiving the highest priority and having these high rates of toxicity should be enough to raise the alarm.”

While solutions to tackling the aflatoxin contamination exist, urgency to embrace them is missing. With the increasing impacts of climate change, contamination too rises.

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