FOOD SAFETY - African Union moves towards developing national aflatoxin action plans
Aflatoxins are one of the most pervasive food safety problems as contamination of food crops begins from the field and continues during post harvest aggravated by climatic conditions in Africa
LILONGWE, Malawi (Planet Defence) - Aflatoxins are naturally occurring, highly toxic compounds which occur widely in diverse food and feed products such as groundnuts, maize, rice and sorghum. Planet Defence had an interview with Dr. Amare Ayalew, Programme Manager, Partnerships for Aflatoxin Control in African (PACA), African Union Commission in Lusaka, Zambia.
Aflatoxin contamination can therefore occur at any point along the food value chain and its impacts cut across three important sectors (health, trade and agriculture), making controlling aflatoxins very complex and challenging. There is no silver bullet for effectively containing the poison.
The Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA), a program of the African Union Commission (AUC) launched in October 2012 as endorsed by African Union Executive Council through Decision No. EX.CL/768 (XXII), to coordinate and support aflatoxin mitigation and management across the health, agriculture and trade sectors in Africa.
PACA works at the continental, regional and country levels. At continental level, PACA has created a continent-wide comprehensive program on aflatoxin control while addressing a broad array of solutions and actions on the ground. At regional level, PACA works with Regional Economic Communities (RECs), to develop Regional Aflatoxin Control Action Plans which increase effective aflatoxin control along agricultural value chains, advocate for enabling policy environment, and harmonize aflatoxin standards. As Africa moves into the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), regional blocks will need strong and effective trade measures to support countries in their efforts to integrate into the African markets as well as access lucrative international markets. At country level, PACA focuses on providing direct support to African Governments.
Through PACA, the Commission has worked with six African Union member states namely; (Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, The Gambia and Uganda) and (RECs), namely ECOWAS, COMESA and EAC, for 4 – 5 years, to pilot models for holistic country-led approaches for aflatoxin control and successfully mainstreamed aflatoxin control in national systems of all the six countries.
PACA has therefore developed and successfully implemented the country-led, country plan approach on aflatoxin control in these countries. The country-led model is executed in five stages including: Stage One: Gather evidence to inform the plan; Stage Two: Develop, validate and finalize the country plan; Stage Three: Mainstream plan into national strategies for accountability and sustainability; Stage Four: Build government capacity to implement the plan; and Stage Five: Monitor progress and advocate.
The PACA country-led model has proven successful as a holistic and sustainable approach towards mitigating aflatoxins on the continent and has been packaged into a Strategic Framework for Scaling Holistic Country-Led Model for Aflatoxin Control in Africa which was endorsed by the 36th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in February 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia through the Decision number EX.CL/Dec. 1074(XXXVI). The decision called for continued integration of aflatoxin control into National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) and other national frameworks for sustainable implementation by all 55 AU Member States.
To accelerate uptake of the Strategic Framework, the AUC with AUDA-NEPAD have been convening capacity building workshop on “Domesticating the AU Strategic Framework for Holistic Aflatoxin Control” and Zambia being one of them.