A group of people walking amongst crops and spreading fertilizer.

Protecting Food Value Chains Across Africa .

Agriculture and Food Security | Resilience | Business Enabling Environment | Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development
Africa

Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) Project

Project Dates: September 2016 - December 2019
Aflasafe is a solution that reduces poisonous Aflatoxin levels in staple crops. Its commercialization improves food security and promotes resilience.

Aflatoxin is a poison produced by a soil fungus that can infect crops, threatening food security, health, and trade in many developing countries; contaminating the food value chain; and costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year in export opportunities. In Africa specifically, aflatoxin causes stunting in children and an estimated 30 percent of all liver cancer cases.

The United States Department of Agriculture and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed Aflasafe to combat aflatoxin contamination in staple cereal crops and groundnuts. With Chemonics (through December 2019) and Dalberg, IITA implemented the Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) Project with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. To improve food systems and public health, ATTC commercialized and delivered Aflasafe to the marketplaces of Nigeria, Senegal, the Gambia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. The project researched the potential for moving Aflasafe from a scientific to a commercial product; identified private sector investors; transferred the technology to selected investors; and supported commercialization so that Aflasafe manufacturing and distribution systems were economically viable, sustainable, and independent. By collaborating with private sector and government stakeholders, ATTC worked to improve food safety and increase the income of maize and groundnut smallholder farmers through Aflasafe use.

3

country-wide licensing agreements negotiated and finalized

7,900,000

dollars in private sector investment leveraged

3,156

tons of Aflasafe sold between 2016-2019

Project Goals


ATTC aims to develop, implement, apply, and adapt a methodology to commercialize Aflasafe to achieve the following goals:

  • Increase Aflasafe’s availability and accessibility
  • Communicate strategic business opportunities for potential manufacturing and distribution partners
  • Competitively select and negotiate technology transfer agreements with private sector partners
  • Foster a market demand for aflatoxin-safe crops and develop marketing strategies to communicate value propositions to farmers to use Aflasafe
  • Provide farmers with quality-assurance training and monitor appropriate use of Aflasafe