{"id":55546,"date":"2023-09-16T11:15:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T11:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins"},"modified":"2023-09-16T12:42:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T12:42:37","slug":"govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins","title":{"rendered":"Govt should sensitise farmers on aflatoxins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>This week, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) issued measures for both farmers and maize exporters in a bid to control aflatoxins in maize seeds and maize flour.<\/p>\n

Aflatoxin-contaminated foods, especially maize flour, has been a major issue in Uganda that has at times caused diplomatic problems with its neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came up with these guidelines because we are mandated to do it, to curb illicit activities in the sector, to protect the health and safety of consumers, to improve our international relations with neighbouring countries, and ensure trade facilitation or meet requirements of another country,\u201d Mr Gaston Kironde, the senior surveillance officer at UNBS, said while addressing maize millers, exporters, and farmers in Wakiso District.<\/p>\n

Aflatoxins are toxins produced by a fungus that grows on certain crops such as maize and ground nuts, which compromise the safety and quality of food and feeds.<\/p>\n

In July, South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) impounded more than 70 trucks of maize flour that was being exported to neighbouring country. SSNBS said the flour was contaminated with aflatoxins, and therefore, needed to destroy the flour worth billions of Shillings. And among other cases the quality of food from Uganda \u2013 considered to be the regional food basket \u2013 has been questioned.<\/p>\n

The news of the guidelines from UNBS is welcome and should have come sooner. However, government has placed the biggest burden on the exporter, yet the farmer has the biggest role to play in ensuring good pre and post-harvest management of the crops.<\/p>\n

Some of the guidelines include providing sealable trucks for safe custody of the sampled products; every exporter having his or her product packaging clearly and indelibly labelled and traceable with the name of the product; and the cost of laboratory analysis of the product samples being borne by the exporters.<\/p>\n

We propose that government embarks on a campaign to educate farmers on crop management practices. They need to be educated on issues such as proper drying of their crops. Aflatoxin contamination can increase 10-fold in a three-day period when field harvested maize is stored with high moisture content. Post-harvest technologies have been developed and are increasingly being adopted in other parts of Africa, but not Uganda because of their costs. We propose that government subsidises their costs so that we export more quality food.<\/p>\n

Many farmers store their harvests in buveera (polythene bags) that are not airtight, thus facilitating fungal contamination and aflatoxin development. Government should make a deliberate effort to make available the right storage bags to the farmers.<\/p>\n

Finally, farmers must be encouraged to disinfect their storage rooms to prevent fungi. It is only with the farmers \u2013 the biggest stakeholders in the production chain \u2013 involved that we shall reduce aflatoxins in our food.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. This week, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) issued measures for both farmers and maize exporters in a bid to control aflatoxins in maize seeds and maize flour. Aflatoxin-contaminated foods, especially maize flour, has been a major issue in Uganda that has at times caused diplomatic problems with its neighbours. \u201cWe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-55546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt should sensitise farmers on aflatoxins - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) issued measures for both farmers and maize exporters in a bid ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt should sensitise farmers on aflatoxins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) issued measures for both farmers and maize exporters in a bid ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-16T11:15:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-16T12:42:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/sm_1694851708.104418.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt should sensitise farmers on aflatoxins\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-16T11:15:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-16T12:42:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/sm_1694851708.104418.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-sensitise-farmers-on-aflatoxins\",\"name\":\"Govt should sensitise farmers on aflatoxins - 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