Smallholder Farmers Tackle Aflatoxin Risk in Malawi's Peanuts

Author: Aubrey Chinseu

In Malawi, a leading local Non Governmental Organization (NGO) has been working with smallholder farmers to mitigate the risk of aflatoxin contamination in peanuts. The National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), with a membership of around 108,000, smallholder farmers organized in clubs and Associations works in collaboration with various stakeholders to promote interventions aimed at managing the aflatoxin problem.

This article highlights some of the notable aflatoxin management work NASFAM has undertaken realizing that the first line of combating the aflatoxin risk is at the farm level through promotion of best pre-harvest, harvest and postharvest practices. Working in collaboration with partners such as Twin of the UK and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), numerous initiatives have been undertaken with smallholder farmers which include; aflatoxin awareness and training, development of traceability systems, quality management, storage and processing.

Utilizing “lead farmers” and a network of field officers, targeted messages have been delivered aimed at stimulating awareness and interest in management of aflatoxin risk at the farm level. There is growing awareness of best aflatoxin mitigating practices among NASFAM members and there is also evidence of progress in as far as getting the messages to trickle down to the wider farming community. Farmers have been made to realize that they are important partners in the fight against aflatoxin contamination in the peanut value chain.

Recent years have seen an increasing trend in peanut production in Malawi, which can partly be attributed to government policies such as National Export Strategy (NES) and farm input support programs. However increases in production have not been matched by advancement in harvest and post harvest innovations such as shelling and storage technologies. Most smallholder farmers continue to shell their nuts by hand; one of the most labor and time demanding activities especially for women who provide most of the farm labor in Malawi.  Shelling by hand leads to sore thumbs and farmers are often tempted to soak unshelled nuts in water to soften the shells and ease the burden of hand shelling.  This practice leads to increased moisture conditions which facilitate growth of moulds leading to aflatoxin contamination of the peanuts.  Realizing this threat, NASFAM has taken an initiative to introduce mechanical shelling technologies with the help of various stakeholders, however adoption has been slow and there is need to generate more evidence of benefits and possibly further adapt available technologies to the local environment.

Peanut marketing in NASFAM inherently involves aggregating produce from a multitude of small producers cultivating on average one to two hectares of land in different geographical areas.  A sound traceability and quality management system is essential as the nuts move from the farm through aggregation points to processing facilities.  NASFAM has developed a traceability system working with farmers to ensure that each bag of nuts accepted at a buying point undergoes quality checks and has a traceability tag with information that links the bag to a particular farmer.  This information is consolidated and relayed to the next stage of the chain until processing and final dispatch.

NASFAM has worked with various partners to promote other quality management systems in the peanut value chain; intervention in this regard include drying systems such as use of the Mandela Cork, use of moisture detection and quality checks as well as sampling for aflatoxin testing at various critical points of the chain.

The dominance of smallholders in Malawi’s peanut production and growing significance of peanuts in the country’s economy demands that smallholder farmers are at the core of any strategies for reducing the aflatoxin risk.  NASFAM, in collaboration with partners like Twin and ICRISAT will need to continue to lead in promoting targeted interventions aimed at mitigating the aflatoxin risk and its impacts on trade, health and food security in Malawi.