24 - 27 June 2018. Mombasa (Kenya). The 2nd African Symposium on Mycotoxicology entitled “Mitigating mycotoxin contamination in the African food and feed chain”

1. PAEPARD Partners
Scaling-up the impact of
aflatoxin research in Africa.
The role of social sciences.
Francois Stepman

2. • 2010: some 28,000 publications
on aflatoxin registered by the
American Chemistry Society
• 11,000 scientific publications in
the database of PubMed
(2010. The 72nd Review of the Joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
Additives)
• Less than 10% of the articles
deal with the social mechanism
around Aflatoxin prevention
(Science Direct for social science papers on
Aflatoxin)
Where do we come from?

3. Scaling up
• Awareness:
HIV/AIDS; liver cancer; stunting
• Advantage:
a dietary rather than commodity approach
• Affordability:
Good agricultural practices and the push pull approach
• Access:
Aflasafe

4. Social sciences
• Development concepts and practice
The new leitmotiv: agribusiness; youth employment; value
chain development
• Political and agricultural economy
individual vs public interests
• International trade and food standards
Inclusive and poverty reduction: do standards benefit the
small scale farmer?
• Communication
Risk communication and mitigation of the risks
role of the media and researchers

5. Agricultural sciences: Vicious vs virtuous circles
Business as usual
1. Continued focus on productivity
(sustainable intensification) as prime
driver of agriculture
2. More, cheaper food:
• drives more waste and ill health
• drives more climate change, greater
impacts on yields
• creates greater need for land for
climate mitigation
• intensifies competition for land, water,
energy, inputs
3. Less biodiversity, more uniformity,
erosion of soils and natural capital
4. Less resilience to perturbations
(locally or through global markets)
Business unusual
1. Greater focus on food safety:
system efficiency – healthy diets,
sustainable (low waste) food
systems
2. Greater recognition of values
associated with food, not just
prices, higher farm-gate prices
3. Different diets driving more
diversified agriculture; allowing
more circular agriculture (e.g.
mixed farms)
4. More multi-functional landscapes
(fewer mono cultural landscapes)
more rural employment
5. More resilient food systems

6. PAEPARD Partners