Kenya is again faced with the threat of aflatoxin poisoning in maize. Heavy rains across the country that began late last year have led to a bumper harvest in most areas. Maize farmers do not dry the maize properly before storage. When the moisture content is higher than 13.5%, most cereals especially maize develops a mould or a fungus called Aspergilus flavus that produces aflatoxin. The Kenyan government has sent out an alert warning that much of the maize being harvested is already contaminated.
Aflatoxin kills
Aflatoxin causes many complications when consumed; it causes liver cancer and weakens the body’s immune system, making it easy for other diseases to attack people. Aflatoxin is colourless, so consumers cannot tell the difference between contaminated and healthy maize. It cannot be eliminated by washing, cooking, or even fermenting maize.
Moisture testing
Maize should be dried completely before storage. To test if maize is dry, mix a handful of grains with half a handful of dry salt in a dry soda bottle. Shake it for 2-3 minutes and allow it to settle. If salt sticks on the walls of the bottle, then the grain has moisture and needs more drying. Repeat the process until no salt sticks on the walls of the bottle. You can then store the maize in a clean dry place.
This is disheartening. I Work with schools in arid and semi arid areas in Kenya in a Healthy learning programme. Thanks to the good rains received earlier this year, some of our schools had a very good harvest of maize. For once they were going to provide the pupils with school meals without support from the government. To our disappointment, post harvest handling was poorly done resulting in huge losses. People don’t seek assistance from the relevant government ministries hence lack technical know how. To me the solution lies in proper training on post harvest handling. Let the people also seek for these services as they are demand driven.
Lets not seek for aid during dry spells yet we can produce enough food and preserve it.
I believe Anti-aflatoxin innovations by Nairobi based African Agricultural Technologies AATF and IITA based in Ibadan Nigeria should be practically picked up across the continent to curb a pending health and economic disaster.
The health threat of dangerous Aflatoxin to human health is still not properly contained here in Kenya,with the recent destruction of con terminated maize by the government.I think more needs to be done to help scrub out the potential danger that Aflatoxin has to human health.