Title
Current Maize Production, Postharvest Losses and the Risk of Mycotoxins Contamination in Tanzania
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
7-2015
DOI
10.13031/aim.20152189434
Conference Title
2015 ASABE Annual International Meeting
Conference Date
July 26–29, 2015
City
New Orleans, LA, United States
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.
Copyright Owner
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Copyright Date
2015
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Suleiman, Rashid A. and Rosentrater, Kurt A., "Current Maize Production, Postharvest Losses and the Risk of Mycotoxins Contamination in Tanzania" (2015). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Conference Proceedings and Presentations. 442.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf/442
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Food Security Commons
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.