As nations intensify their efforts to make their presence felt on the world market with certain type of locally produced verities, Gambia for many years has been renowned for its groundnut export. But that business that used to be lucrative for the country and her people is dwindling with the discovery of aflatoxin in our groundnut produce.
Off recent, Europe in particular is a no-go area due to the high presence of aflatoxin in our groundnut. Aflatoxins are poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly aspergillus species. It is a disease in agricultural products that continues to pose great danger in Africa’s food, affecting key staples such as maize and groundnuts. These are both very common foods across sub-Saharan Africa.
This disease poses great challenges to Gambia’s quest to be a key exporter of groundnut and other products to the European market for foreign exchange.
It is in the news that Gambia’s groundnut has been banned in Europe and as a result, it is being exported to China, where it is used to feed birds and animals. Many international bodies and health experts have warned against aflatoxin, which is a common disease mainly detected in groundnut and maize coming from sub-Saharan Africa.
However, a few years ago, when The Gambia launched Aflasafe – a bio-production that mitigated the aflatoxin in our groundnuts – to combat aflatoxin in groundnuts and maize, hopes were high about the country’s prospect of increasing its exports to the outside markets. Years down the line, the disease in food crops still cost the country so dearly.
Gambia exports the majority of groundnut produce to the outside market, thereby generating foreign exchange to the country.
The government should promote the use of aflasafe in all agricultural production. This will help combat any potential threat to the country's agricultural produce.
In a nutshell, aflasafe is an all-natural bio-control product, developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in collaboration with national and international partners.
Let’s not forget that The Gambia is amongst the first countries to benefit from Aflasafe registration and commercialisation strategy, designed to serve as a guide to local manufacturing and distribution, and strategic interventions to enable Aflasafe’s uptake.
It is high time that the government takes serious measures to tackle aflatoxin in groundnut, if not the disease has the tendency to derail our efforts especially in the agric sector.
Just imagine, the recent banning of our groundnut products to the European market doesn’t tell well about the country as a significant number of the populace are farmers.
In fact, in recent years, aflatoxin has resulted in low agricultural productivity and likewise affected the country’s groundnut market.
Certainly, The Gambia has lots of market access but to utilise those markets, access is a challenge because the country is not producing much. Not sending our groundnuts to the European markets means the country is significantly losing trade value.
In as much as the disease prevails, there could be an alternative to fight the aflatoxin especially with the use of aflasafe.
Authorities need to do more for the country to attain its lost glory in groundnut production. The country can’t afford to produce all its agricultural produce without exporting some to the international market to earn foreign exchange.