Developing a National Policy and Technical Regulation for Aflatoxin Control in Food and Feed

DEVELOPING A NATIONAL POLICY AND TECHNICAL REGULATION FOR AFLATOXIN CONTROL IN FOOD AND FEED

Project Detail

Due to the detrimental effects of aflatoxins on food and nutrition security, health, and the economy, the African Union Commission has prioritised aflatoxins as a major food safety problem and has therefore established the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control (PACA) to help address the problem on the continent. With the help of PACA, ECOWAS developed its action plan for aflatoxin control, which was adopted by Ministers of Agriculture in 2015. ECOWAS Member states are accordingly required to adapt this action plan to their specific contexts and ensure its mainstreaming into existing policies and programmes. It is in this vein that a grant was sought from AGRA to develop a national policy that will spell out an action plan together with a technical regulation to ensure adequate enforcement of aflatoxins standards

Participating scientists (with PI)

Specific Objective

The goal is to catalyse and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation by reducing the prevalence and level of aflatoxin contamination in food and feed for smallholder farmers. The objective is to strengthen government multi-sectoral coordination and mutual accountability in the agricultural sector.

Methodology

Generally, it is known that the quality of food crops produced from untreated or partially treated wastewater in Accra is poor, with evidence of pathogens and heavy metals. Thus, a primary impact of the Ghana case will be to demonstrate the availability of alternative water to the untreated or partially treated wastewater currently used in urban agriculture in Accra and to reduce pressure on the amount of surface water used for irrigating urban agriculture. Replacing wood fuel used in kilns for burning in the textile and chemical industries in Ghana through improved recovery and dissemination of biochar to these industries will contribute to the expected impact.

Major Outcomes

The Cabinet approved policy in December 2021 and the Decision letter was sent to all the four ministries (MESTI, MOFA, MOTI and MOH) that own the policy. Each of the four ministries had written letters informing their agencies and relevant institutions about the approval of the policy and the need for them to develop projects and programmes for its implementation. The aflatoxin policy is accessible here: https://library.faraafrica.org/2022/10/12/national-policy-for-aflatoxin-control-in-food-and-feed/

Following the approval of the policy, CSIR-STEPRI secured a project preparation grant (PPG) from the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to priorities the investment options in the policy using the Prioritising SPS Investment for Market Access (P-IMA) tool and then develop project proposals based on the prioritized actions. This has been done with the help of a P-IMA expert and national stakeholders. See here for more information about the PPG: https://standardsfacility.org/sites/default/files/TOR_PPG_786_Ghana_aflatoxin_P-IMA.pdf

Way Forward

Based on the prioritized actions, the National Steering Committee for Aflatoxin Control (NSCAC) will meet and select one or two of the investment options to prepare project proposals for funding. The first proposal will be submitted to the STDF project grant (PG) which is currently open until 24th February 2023. Other proposals will be developed and sent to other donors that will be identified.