IITA to establish fifth Alflasafe production facility in Mozambique, heightening fight against aflatoxin contamination

MOZAMBIQUE – The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has signed a Technology Transfer and Licensing Agreement (TTLA) with Mozambique’s AflaLivre Moçambique S.A., to manufacture and distribute Aflasafe in the country.

Aflasafe, is a natural product used to reduce aflatoxin contamination in human food and animal feed.

The technology was developed by IITA in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and different National research organizations.

As part of the new partnership, an Aflasafe factory will be established in Nampula, the fifth in sub-Saharan Africa, and expected to be operational by June 2022.

Mozambique has the potential to contribute significantly to food security in Africa. However, only about 15% of its arable land is cultivated, mainly with staple food crops such as maize, cassava, and groundnut.

Also, only about 20% of maize and groundnut produced in Mozambique enter markets; the rest is consumed at the household level.

Moreover, high aflatoxin levels in these crops undermine their nutritional value and reduce access to lucrative export markets in the event of surplus production.

The country’s huge production potential and aflatoxin challenge led IITA and partners to develop and adapt the aflatoxin biocontrol technology for local use with funding from USAID.

After several years, two Aflasafe products—Aflasafe MZMW01 and Aflasafe MZ02—that were developed with atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus native to Mozambique and tested across the country were registered in February 2019 for commercial use by the Division of Registration and Control of Agrochemicals, in the Department of Plant Health under the National Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety.

The country’s huge production potential and aflatoxin challenge led IITA and partners to develop and adapt the aflatoxin biocontrol technology for local use with funding from USAID.

As a result, farmers in Mozambique now have an effective technology to address the aflatoxin menace.

Growing demand of Aflasafe products trigger need for local production

Groundnut growers, who had participated in the effectiveness trials of Aflasafe in Northern Mozambique, showed considerable interest in the product after seeing its tangible benefits in reducing aflatoxin accumulation.

“Therefore, to meet growing demand, IITA facilitated a short-term manufacturing arrangement for Aflasafe MZ02 at one of the operational licensed factories in the region,” indicated IITA.

Fifteen tons of the product were manufactured by A to Z Textiles Ltd, in Arusha (Tanzania), transported by road, and distributed by the Associação Moçambicana Para Promoção do Cooperativismo Moderno (AMPCM), a cooperative, facilitated by the Royal Norwegian Society for Development also known as Norges Vel, an international NGO.

Concurrently, discussions began with the groundnut working group to facilitate Aflasafe production in Mozambique and reduce the cost for local farmers, who have to pay more because of the import-related transactional costs, limiting widespread use.

AMPCM and Norges Vel teamed up with a private company Miruku Agro Indústria (Miruku), to set up AflaLivre, a private limited liability company registered with the Legal Entities Conservatory of the Republic of Mozambique.

With Norges Vel as the majority shareholder, the core business of AflaLivre is to produce, distribute, and add value to groundnut, maize, cassava, and other agricultural products, process and manage agricultural inputs, including Aflasafe, and other agricultural-related matters.

Unlike other Aflasafe factories, this one will combine Aflasafe manufacturing and aflatoxin-safe groundnut processing in one facility.

As a result, Mozambican farmers are now a step closer to having a reliable source of an aflatoxin biocontrol product at a significantly lower price than what it cost to import it from Tanzania.

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