High levels of mycotoxins content in food is dangerous to human health and responsible for the loss of billions of naira Nigeria would have generated from non-oil exports.
Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by certain fungi and moulds that are threat to food and feeds for human and animal consumption with regards to long term poisoning. They are produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus and related species that cause destruction of contaminated crops.
“Aflatoxins has harmful effects on humans and animals. They are very cancerous and suppress human immune system. The African environment favours the development of the poisonous compound. It is found all across Africa,” Abiodun obaleye, research supervisor, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) said during a media tour.
According to the United states National Cancer Institute, aflatoxins are a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found in agricultural crops such as groundnut, maize, cottonseed, sesame and tree nuts among others.
It is estimated that Nigeria loses up to N68 billion annually in lost exports because agricultural commodities such as groundnuts contain aflatoxin levels unacceptable for European and other markets.
In 2017, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said that a total of 24 food products were rejected by the European Union (EU) because of high levels of poisonous chemical compounds. Groundnut was among the food products rejected because of the high presence of aflatoxin.
“The importance of aflatoxin in our agricultural products and their attendant implications on the safety of foods and feeds, trade and health cannot be over emphasised. Food and feeds sold in our open markets are neither regulated nor traceable and this has made the zero rejection program of the Federal Government an uphill task,” Folasade Bosede Oluwabamiwo, president, Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria (MSN) said at the association’s 2017 annual conference in Lagos.
Despite the severity of mycotoxins and its effects on human and animal health, many farmers and traders in the country have never heard of mycotoxins and its effects.
“I never knew the moulds on groundnuts are dangerous to human health and I have not heard about aflatoxins before,” Salisus Mohammed a groundnut farmer in Bindawa Local Government in Kastina told BusinessDay.
According to experts, farmers’ education on the dangers of the fungi, public awareness, appropriate infrastructural facilities and aflasafe intervention will help prevent and control aflatoxins contamination.
Isaac Ogara, secretary, MSN and a lecturer at the department of Agronomy, Nasarawa State University said that the aflatoxins content in crops can be reduced by mainstreaming control strategies in the country’s farming systems along the value chain.
“Farmers need to have awareness that there are deadly chemical substances that occur naturally without their knowing. One of the strategies that farmers can protect their crops from these toxins is to harvest their crops early. Harvesting early help to reduce the incidence of aflatoxin,” Ogara said.
“Farmers must also ensure that they carry out good farming practices by ensuring that they carry out all the cultivation practices according to recommendations and dry their crops properly. Crops must be properly dried with moisture content of about 12-14 percent,” the secretary added.
He also stated that the use of Neem tree and Jatropha extracts also help to reduce levels of toxins in foods. He noted that the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has developed a product called aflasafe which farmers can adopt to reduce the occurrence of the toxicogenic fungi.
Josephine Okojie
