Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Conference Proceedings and Presentations 7-2015 Current Maize Production, Postharvest Losses and the Risk of Mycotoxins Contamination in Tanzania Rashid A. Suleiman Iowa State University, [email protected] Kurt A. Rosentrater Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf Part of the Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, and the Food Security Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ abe_eng_conf/442. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Conference Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Conference Proceedings and Presentations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Current Maize Production, Postharvest Losses and the Risk of Mycotoxins Contamination in Tanzania Abstract Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzanian economy. It accounts for about one-third of the gross domestic product (GDP), provides 85 percent of all exports and saves as a livelihood to over 80 percent of the total population. Maize is the primary staple crop; it’s grown in nearly all agro-ecological zones in the country. Tanzania is a major maize producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last four decades, Tanzania has ranked among the top 25 maize producing countries in the world. In the 2013/14 growing seasons Tanzania produced over half billion metric tons of maize of these maize smallholder farmers produced around 85%. Despite the steady production of maize over the past three decades, post-harvest losses of maize remained significant, up to 30-40 % in some rural areas. Post-harvest handling, poor infrastructure, weather variability, biotic factors such as insects and pests, bacteria, pathogens, viruses, and fungi, often aggravate such losses. Mycotoxin producing fungi pose a major risk. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites of fungi that frequently contaminate the maize in the field and/or during storage. Mycotoxin contamination of maize poses a health risk to humans and animals if not properly managed. The most important mycotoxins in Tanzania are the aflatoxins, fumonisins and Ochratoxin. The bjo ective of this paper was to review current literature on the production trends, consumption, post-harvest losses, and mycotoxins contamination of maize and to provide strategies to control and prevent postharvest losses and mycotoxins contamination in Tanzania. Keywords Tanzania, maize, post-harvest losses, mycotoxins, aflatoxins, fumonisins, Ochratoxin Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering | Food Security Comments This proceeding is from 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Paper No. 152189434, pages 1-128 (doi: 10.13031/aim.20152189434). St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE. Posted with permission. This conference proceeding is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf/442 An ASABE Meeting Presentation Paper Number: 152189434 CURRENT MAIZE PRODUCTION, POSTHARVEST LOSSES AND THE RISK OF MYCOTOXINS CONTAMINATION IN TANZANIA Rashid Suleiman and Kurt Rosentrater Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Iowa State University Written for presentation at the 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting Sponsored by ASABE New Orleans, Louisiana July 26 – 29, 2015 Abstract. Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzanian economy. It accounts for about one-third of the gross domestic product (GDP), provides 85 percent of all exports and saves as a livelihood to over 80 percent of the total population. Maize is the primary staple crop; it’s grown in nearly all agro-ecological zones in the country. Tanzania is a major maize producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last four decades, Tanzania has ranked among the top 25 maize producing countries in the world. In the 2013/14 growing seasons Tanzania produced over half billion metric tons of maize of these maize smallholder farmers produced around 85%. Despite the steady production of maize over the past three decades, post-harvest losses of maize remained significant, up to 30-40 % in some rural areas. Post-harvest handling, poor infrastructure, weather variability, biotic factors such as insects and pests, bacteria, pathogens, viruses, and fungi, often aggravate such losses. Mycotoxin producing fungi pose a major risk. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites of fungi that frequently contaminate the maize in the field and/or during storage. Mycotoxin contamination of maize poses a health risk to humans and animals if not properly managed. The most important mycotoxins in Tanzania are the aflatoxins, fumonisins and Ochratoxin. The objective of this paper was to review current literature on the production trends, consumption, post-harvest losses, and mycotoxins contamination of maize and to provide strategies to control and prevent postharvest losses and mycotoxins contamination in Tanzania. Keywords. Tanzania; maize; post-harvest losses; mycotoxins; aflatoxins; fumonisins; Ochratoxin. Introduction Agriculture is the backbone of the Tanzanian national economy. It accounts about one- third of the gross domestic product (GDP), provides 85 percent of all exports and saves as a livelihood to over 80 percent of the population (CIA World Factbook, 2014). Maize (Zea mays L.) is a primary staple crop; it’s grown in nearly all agro-ecological zones in the country (USAID, 2010). Maize together with wheat and rice are the three most cultivated cereal crops worldwide (Suleiman et al., 2013). Current world maize production is about 10.14 billion metric tons (De Groote et al., 2013). The United States (US) is the largest producer, producing over 30 % followed by China 21 % and Brazil 7.9 % (Table 1). Africa produces around 7 % of the total world production. Two-thirds of all Africa maize come from eastern and southern Africa (Verheye, 2010; FAOSTAT, 2014). In sub-Saharan Africa, (SSA) maize is the most important cereal crop and staple food for about 1.2 billion people (IITA, 2009) and occupy a third of the cultivated area (Blackie, 1990). Maize accounts for over 30 % lower-house income and contributes 60 % of dietary calories and 50 % of protein intake (IITA, 2009; Amani, 2004). Tanzania is a major maize producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last five decades, Tanzania has ranked among the top 25 maize producing countries in the world (Barreiro-Hurle, J. 2012). Currently ranked 1, 4, and 19 top maize producing countries in East Africa (EA), Africa and in the world (http://www. indexmundi.com, FAOSTAT, 2014; McCann, 2001). The authors are solely responsible for the content of this meeting presentation. The presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and its printing and distribution does not constitute an endorsement of views which may be expressed. Meeting presentations are not subject to the formal peer review process by ASABE editorial committees; therefore, they are not to be presented as refereed publications. Citation of this work should state that it is from an ASABE meeting paper. EXAMPLE: Author’s Last Name, Initials. 2015. Title of Presentation. ASABE Paper No. ---. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE. For information about securing permission to reprint or reproduce a meeting presentation, please contact ASABE at [email protected] or 269-932-7004 (2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659 USA). 2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting Paper Page 1 Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites of fungi that frequently contaminate the maize in the field and/or during storage (Smith et al., 2012). Mycotoxins contamination of maize poses a health risk to humans and domesticated animals (Mboya et al., 2012; Suleiman et al., 2013). The most important mycotoxins in maize are the Aflatoxins, Fumonisins, Deoxynivalenol, and Ochratoxin (Kimanya et al., 2012). Aflatoxin is a group of mycotoxin produced as secondary metabolites by the spoilage of two fungi species Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus (Marin et al., 2013; Feng et al., 2011). Fumonisins are mycotoxins synthesized mainly by Fusarium verticilloides and Fusarium proliferatum (Garrido et al., 2012). Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common type of mycotoxins produced by pink mold F. graminerarum (Garrido et al., 2012). Ochratoxin is other types of mycotoxins mostly produced by Penicillium verrucosum, Aspergillus ochraceus, A. niger species (Lai et al., 2014). The objective of this paper was to review current literature on the production and consumption, postharvest losses and mycotoxins contamination of maize and to provide strategies to control and prevent postharvest losses and mycotoxins contamination in Tanzania. Background The United Republic of Tanzania is situated on the east coast of Africa and lies longitudes 29º and 41º east and latitude 1º and 12º south of the equator (www. nationsencyclopedia.com). Tanzania consists of mainland and offshore islands of Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba) and Mafia in the Indian Ocean (Ak’habuhaya and Lodenius, 1988). It is the largest of the East African countries with a total area of 945,078 km2 (364,900