A capacity-building workshop on “Domesticating the AU Strategic Framework for Holistic Aflatoxin Control” was held in Lusaka, Zambia, following its endorsement as a blueprint for further aflatoxin mitigation efforts in the  AU members state by the 36th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in February 2020,Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

The workshop held from 1-3   October 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia, therefore, involved stakeholders from  the 12 newly selected countries for the implementation of the next phase of aflatoxin mitigation using the framework. They include  Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, Togo and Zambia, as well as those from the six successful pilot countries: Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda,  and Senegal for knowledge and information sharing. Some members of the academia and the scientific community were in attendance.

Aflatoxins are harmful toxins that can infect agricultural products like groundnuts, maize, rice, and sorghum, and if consumed in large amounts,  can lead to severe medical conditions such as cancer. The presence of aflatoxin contamination has created significant challenges for health, trade, and agriculture in Africa. Therefore, in October 2012, the African Union Executive Council endorsed the creation of the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) as a program to help coordinate and support efforts to manage and reduce aflatoxins in Africa.

To begin, PACA chose six countries as pilot nations: Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, and Senegal. Encouraged by their success, a strategic framework called "Domesticating the AU Strategic Framework for Holistic Aflatoxin Control" was developed to further guide the implementation of aflatoxin mitigation efforts on the continent.

The workshop, therefore, focused on the following: The successes and challenges in implementing the country-led model – the processes of engaging country stakeholders to identify, design and implement aflatoxin mitigation efforts in a five-stage approach; identification of ways of scaling up the country-led model for aflatoxin control in all 55 AU Members State; and the development of roadmap on how to implement the framework to scale up  Aflatoxin Control in the continent.

The meeting was therefore characterised by a series of presentations,  panel discussions and other discourses on how the 12 new countries can successfully launch their interventions, including awareness creation,  formative research,  resource mobilisation, and implementation approaches based on the framework.

Mr Chiluba Mwape, an advisor on SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary), Africa Union Commission addressing the opening ceremony, indicated that aflatoxin mitigation has been included in the broader  AU food safety strategy to ensure it receives the maximum attention.

He explained that addressing food safety, including aflatoxin, is an important requisite for achieving the  ‘Malabo Commitment” by African leaders to improve food security under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development   Programme( CAADP).