By Christine Wanjiku
When farmer Judith Nankunda harvested her sorghum last season in Serere District, Eastern Uganda, she imagined it would finally pay off the school fees she had borrowed against.
However, the grain mill she supplied rejected her entire consignment. Laboratory tests showed extremely high aflatoxin contamination, one of Africa’s most widespread and stubborn food hazards.
“I cried,” she says quietly. “I had used all my savings for that crop. They told me it was unsafe for people and even animals.”
Aflatoxin is a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical produced by certain molds, mainly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus that grow on crops like maize, groundnuts, sorghum and tree nuts, especially in warm and humid conditions.
When consumed through contaminated food, aflatoxins can cause liver cancer, weaken immunity, stunt growth in children, and lead to acute poisoning in severe cases.
Beyond devastating health impacts, aflatoxin contamination alone is estimated to cost Africa US$670 million annually in rejected exports, failed storage, product recalls and lost market access.
Climate change, erratic rainfall, warmer temperatures and porous borders are worsening aflatoxin contamination across Africa, creating ideal conditions for fungal growth and the cross-border movement of unsafe food.
Food safety experts warn that traditional systems built on inspection, visual assessment and post-harvest testing can no longer keep pace with these escalating and increasingly unpredictable threats.
“This is why government, researchers, farmers and citizens need to embrace biotechnology. If embraced, biotechnology gives us the ability to prevent hazards before they enter the food system,” says Dr. Allan Liavoga, a food safety specialist.
According to him, several biotechnology innovations are already reshaping how countries confront aflatoxin, one of Africa’s most widespread and stubborn food hazards. Researchers have developed maize varieties using RNA interference, a precision genetic silencing technique that switches off the fungal genes responsible for aflatoxin production.
Field studies show these varieties can reduce contamination by up to 90 percent, dramatically lowering risk at the farm level. Another technology gaining ground is Bt maize, widely grown for its resistance to stem borer pests. By protecting kernels from insect damage, the entry point for aflatoxin-producing fungi Bt maize has been shown in multi-country studies to contain 30 to 80 percent less aflatoxin than conventional varieties.
“Aflasafe, a biocontrol product developed and commercialized in several African countries, offers a different approach. It introduces non-toxin-producing strains of Aspergillus flavus into fields, overwhelming and outcompeting the dangerous strains that generate aflatoxin. Field results consistently show 80 to 90 percent reductions in contamination in both maize and groundnut crops,” says Dr. Liavoga.
Biotechnology’s contribution to food safety goes beyond aflatoxin. Gene editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas now allow scientists to switch off allergenic proteins in crops like groundnuts, soybeans and wheat. Early studies indicate 70 to 85 percent reductions in allergenicity, potentially transforming diets for millions of consumers living with food allergies — a growing but under-recognized public health concern in Africa’s urban centers.
“Biotechnology can shift Africa’s food safety systems from ‘detect and respond’ to ‘predict and prevent,’ changing how we design food for health—not just for yield. Africa’s future food systems must prioritize safety alongside nutrition and production,” adds Dr. Liavoga.
However, despite all the benefits this technology presents, major adoption barriers persist. Public skepticism toward genetic technologies, driven by misinformation and lack of accessible scientific communication, slows uptake.
Regulatory systems in many countries remain fragmented, underfunded or outdated, making it difficult to approve, scale and monitor new technologies. Others fear that biotechnology may benefit large agribusinesses more than smallholder farmers. Dr. Liavoga argues that the continent must confront these concerns directly.
“Biotechnology will not solve all food safety challenges, but it provides some of the most effective and scalable tools available today. Harnessing these innovations is essential for a safer, more resilient African food system,” he says.
