PACA donor platform meeting, 18 March 2015, Lilongwe via Skype

1. Feed the Future MalawiAflasafe
Progress thus far
IITA: Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, Joseph Atehnkeng, Juliet Akello
DARS: Misheck Soko
USDA-ARS: Peter Cotty

2. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Background
• USAID currently funding projects to develop aflasafe
products in Mozambique and Zambia
• Atoxigenic strains already identified in Moz. and Zambia.
• The proposed project will fill the gap of developing regional
aflasafe products for use in the Nacala corridor.
• The regional products will contain strains that co-occur
naturally in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
• Considerable synergies and complementarities among the
biocontrol development efforts in these countries
• Development of biocontrol in Malawi is endorsed by
MAPAC, COMESA and PACA to augment regional trade and
improve health and nutrition of people in Nacala corridor.

3. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
MAPAC
• Proposed biocontrol project is a part of “Component 1:
Mainstreaming (integrating) good practice and
technologies in maize and groundnuts value chains”
• MAPAC also includes development of resistance/tolerance
to aflatoxins, drying storage systems, groundnut shelling,
alternate uses of contaminated products, testing, Standards
& Policies; and Public Awareness, Advocacy & Education.
• To retain focus, this project will only concentrate on aspects
related to development, commercialization and adoption of
biocontrol in Malawi.
• It is hoped that other donors and institutions will invest
resources on the remaining aspects of MAPAC

4. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Objectives of the project
• quantify the scale of the aflatoxin problem in groundnut and
maize at harvest, in farmers’ stores, warehouses and markets;
• develop a commercially-ready biological control of aflatoxins to
reduce groundnut and maize crop contamination;
• demonstrate product utility in crop value chain, develop
business plan, guide commercialization opportunities (including
product manufacturing) and steer guidelines for intellectual
property management;
• enhance technical capacity of national partners, extension
services, farmers, and other actors in the groundnut and maize
value chains to incorporate aflatoxin biocontrol in integrated
management to minimize aflatoxin contamination.

5. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Areas of Emphasis
• Partnership development; e.g., implementation
• Research
– Surveillance and biocontrol development
– Less emphasis on RESEARCH on integrated management and
awareness, BUT these approaches will be used in Years 3 and
4 for commercialization, stewardship activities
• Capacity development
• Regulatory
• Value chain linkages; e.g., farmers & end-users
• Business plans, IP & commercialization
• Impact assessment

6. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Atoxigenic Strain Identification
Collection/characterization Toxin assay
Field
efficacy
test
Lab
competition
assay
VCG/DNA characterization
cnx
nia-D
Unknown 2
+

7. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Strain Selection Criteria
In the laboratory (~5,000 strains):
• Does not produce aflatoxin
• VCG/SSR group with
Wide geographic distribution
No toxigenic member
• Defective in >2 aflatoxin & CPA
genes
• Outcompetes toxigenic strains
After field application:
• Superior capacity to colonize,
multiply and survive in soil
• Superior frequency of isolation
from grains
• Superior capacity to reduce
aflatoxin
8-12 native strains
selected for field tests
4 native strains
formulated into
the final product

8. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Regional Biocontrol Product
Steps in product development
• Crop (maize and groundnut) sample for strain collection
– Zambia (completed)
– Mozambique (completed)
– Malawi (this project)
• Strain characterization and atoxigenic strain identification
• Assessment of national strain collection to identify regional strains
• Field trials involving further strain identification, product refinement
and efficacy testing
• Pre-registration of atoxigenics.
• IP, manufacturing, product stewardship, business plan development
• Final registration of biocontrol product and initial development of
demand

9. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Extensive Lab work

10. www.iita.orgA member of CGIAR consortium
Current Status
• 402 Crop samples (205 maize & 197 groundnut) from 67 EPAs
in 22 Districts in 3 zones; Aug/Sep 2014 by DARS and IITA
• Target number of Aspergillus germplasm: 4824
• Available germplasm until now: 106 atoxigenic isolates
identified among 3,286 isolates obtained.
• Comparisons with Mozambique and Zambia strain collection
• Five candidates applied and three interviewed for a PhD
studentship
• One DARS staff identified for 3-month-long training in Ibadan
• Selection of Project Manager and M&E specialist on 30 April
• Project on track

11. Thank you