EAC Policymakers Trained on Aflatoxins and their Effective Antidote, Aflasafe

“Aflatoxin is a silent killer and a major health problem all over the world. It has no smell, taste, or color, therefore millions of people in Africa including infants and children, are exposed to the poison without their knowledge."

A week-long training for policymakers from the East Africa Community (EAC) partner states on aflatoxins and progress on efforts to reduce its contamination in food and feeds in the region was done in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The training was part of ongoing efforts by the EAC Secretariat in partnership with the Africa Union (AU), USAID, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), among many other partners, to prevent and control aflatoxin contamination, a major threat to food security in the region, a health hazard, and which affects trade in food and agricultural commodities. The training was conducted at and by IITA experts.

East Africa is a hotspot for aflatoxins—highly poisonous chemicals produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus which is found in soils. They affect both humans and animals that eat contaminated food and feed, and can cause liver disease (including cancer) and lower the body’s immunity. In children, aflatoxins impair growth leading to stunting. Acute exposure can lead to instant death.

The aflatoxin-producing molds affect many crops but the key staples of maize and groundnut are the most susceptible. Aflatoxin contamination also affects trade as grains that have high levels of the toxins cannot be exported and must be destroyed—at a cost. “The multi-sectoral impacts and effects of aflatoxin constitute a significant challenge to agriculture, health, and trade. It is one of the challenges undermining the desired levels of social and economic transformation and regional integration in the East Africa Community,” said Fahari Marwa, a Principal Agricultural Economist at the EAC Secretariat.

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Fall Army worms: Enjoy Amiran’s Knowledge, Succeed in Control

Fall Armyworms (spodopterafrugiperda) is a migratory pest that occurs in large numbers and its caterpillars cause severe damage to more than 80 plant species especially cereal crops such as: maize and rice. Recently FAW has spread to Southern and Eastern Africa and has brought havoc to maize farmers. In Kenya, the fall armyworm (Spodopterafrugiperda) is becoming a nightmare to cereal farmers especially in Trans Nzoia, Vihiga, Kakamega, Kisii, UasinGishu, Nandi, Kericho, Baringo and Kilifi.

“FAW damages corn plants in nearly all stages of development but will concentrate on later plantings that have not yet silked. Offseason planting, late planted fields and later maturing hybrids are more likely to become infested. To win the war on FAW insecticides of different chemical classes need to be alternated because they mutate very fast. Good efficacy has been recorded to farmers who spray insecticides in late evenings as opposed to during daytime. This is attributed to the fact that FAW are nocturnal”, states Timothy Munywoki, Amiran’s Cereal Agronomist.

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Help or Hinder? How Media Portrays Farming to the Public

Studies prove that effective agricultural communication and rigorous, balanced journalism are not mutually exclusive. This should motivate farmers to engage with the media; and encourage journalists to take a constructive and open-minded approach to agricultural stories.

How much coverage does agriculture receive from main stream media?. Is this somehow irrelevant? This has become far more an exploration of tone and perception, the angles journalists take, the questions they ask and how farmers respond, under pressure, to scrutiny and challenge. Worryingly there are problems on both sides of this divide, there is a deep disconnection between conventional agriculture and the metropolitan news media.

The job of journalists is to give readers, viewers and listeners the best obtainable version of the truth, balanced and impartial information and to clearly signpost the difference between fact and opinion. News media has been unconsciously reinforcing stereotypes and naively swallowing preconceived ideas about modern agriculture, driven, by urban bias, a lack of specialism and a lack of curiosity about rural life. However there is a growing appetite for rural affairs features and documentaries, particularly on radio and television. Farming is trending.

Some unhelpful attitudes within the farming industry are shocking.An inward-looking snobbery about the perceived cluelessness of the mainstream media, a lack of transparency on key issues of public interest, disproportionate defensiveness in the face of legitimate challenge and a tendency to ‘shoot the messenger’ instead of taking a long, hard look at itself and the way it communicates with the public. Farmers have played the victim for too long, complaining of attacks on their industry when they should be rising to the challenge, opening doors, building relationships and championing their point of view.

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Weed Control in Maize Farming

Herbicides in the past were highly effective, cheap and easy to use. But reliance on herbicides alone has contributed to the widespread herbicide resistance problems that we are seeing today. If you look at the problem simply, herbicide resistance is nature’s way of telling us herbicides alone are not sustainable and introducing more diverse weed control methods is required to disrupt the weed’s life cycle.

Weed identification is the key to an effective maize weed management program. Incorrect identification can mean the difference between profit and loss. Although a weed’s life cycle, including its method(s) of reproduction, is the most important identifying characteristic, it is sometimes necessary to know the exact species before selecting weed management measures.

Maize growers should make a weed inventory to aid in the selection of weed control programs. By tailoring control programs to fit the problems in each field. Growers can minimize weed control costs while maximizing yields and profits. An inventory can be made by scouting fields two or three times during the year and recording the types (such as broadleaf annuals or annual grasses) of weeds present in each field.

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