Issue 3, April–June 2018
Welcome!
 This third edition of ATTC News offers up a commercialisation carnival as Aflasafe races into availability in countries across the continent. While the world went football-mad, we spent June getting excited about kicking aflatoxin out of Africa’s food. Our biggest news from Quarter 2 is launching Aflasafe in not one but two countries in a single week – Aflasafe BF01 in Burkina Faso and Aflasafe GH02 in Ghana! But no time to catch our breath; the pace is just as fast in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and The Gambia as our distribution partners spread their wings, getting to work on awareness, training stakeholders, and nurturing business-to-business relationships. Investment in developing and registering Aflasafe for more countries continues too, with Ethiopia the latest to join the family. Keep reading for country-by-country round-ups; a message from our Managing Director; our latest multimedia and online content – including lots of tailored training materials; news from our R&D team; and what’s next for the rest of the year.
A word from the ATTC MD, Abdou Konlambigue
Our Managing Director considers how our blossoming partnerships, particularly with the private sector, are taking us from strength to strength and providing a model for delivering impact. More
Latest news
It was double the joy in June with back-to-back Aflasafe launches in West Africa, as two neighbours stepped forward together…
 Bright aflatoxin-safe days ahead as Aflasafe BF01 is launched in Burkina Faso
We celebrated a big step forward in the battle against aflatoxin in Burkina Faso, officially launching Aflasafe BF01 on 26 June 2018 in Ouagadougou. This glamorous event honoured the long-standing partnerships behind the development of this powerful product, and celebrated new ones, as Aflasafe BF01 goes on sale distributed by Eléphant Vert. The launch was presided over by Mr Ali Romba, representing the Minister of Agriculture and Water Management, Mr Jacob Ouedraogo, who emphasised the importance of agriculture in Burkina Faso. More
 Getting to grips with aflatoxin in Ghana – Aflasafe GH02 launched, bags gold
Positive change was in the air in Accra on 29 June 2018, at the official launch of Aflasafe GH02. Besides celebrating the advent and outstanding performance of Aflasafe in Ghana, discussants also got to grips with aflatoxin, deliberating on the need for greater awareness, incentives for farmers, and the potential for Aflasafe to transform access to markets. Tailored for Ghana from her own crops and soils, Aflasafe GH02 reduces aflatoxin by between 80 and 100% in groundnuts and maize. We bring you insights from the speakers and highlights from a panel discussion on the event’s theme, Aflatoxin control: Whose responsibility? More
Country roundups
Burkina Faso
With the official launch of Aflasafe BF01 now behind us, next is to work hand-in-hand with our distribution partner, Eléphant Vert, on field demonstrations for farmers as well as a vigorous public awareness drive, starting from Quarter 3. The results from the thoughtfully structured 2018 demonstrations will fortify Eléphant Vert’s marketing plan from 2019 onwards. More
Ghana
Macrofertil, our new distribution partner, has joined the growing Aflasafe family in Ghana. Working with ATTC, Macrofertil has already trained more than 100 staffers of Aflasafe clients and will supply Aflasafe GH02 to the three northern regions for the current cropping season. More
Kenya
 Aflasafe KE01 got a ringing endorsement from the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Mwangi Kiunjuri, on a visit to the now fully-operational factory, when he committed to push to make Aflasafe available to every farmer in Kenya. More
In Makueni County, we reached out to the community with a major-awareness-raising campaign, and began work with the local leadership on managing aflatoxin. More
Nigeria
 The partnerships and business-to-business collaborations catalysed by ATTC are flourishing. In Jigawa State, Harvestfield Industries Limited, the appointed manufacturer and distributor of Aflasafe™, is working with yet another private-sector partner, Olam, on a ground-breaking groundnut initiative making major strides on distribution agreements and training. Meanwhile Harvestfield, supported by ATTC, has continued with a second wave of its large-scale awareness campaign, reaching thousands of farmers with training and materials in local languages.
Senegal and The Gambia
As factory construction continues, so does commercialisation. To spur and sustain demand for Aflasafe SN01, in April BAMTAARE organised agribusiness cluster meetings in both Senegal and The Gambia, with technical support from ATTC. These have now led to business-to-business (B2B) discussions. More
Tanzania
Tanzania is the latest country firmly on the road to commercialisation. Tanzania’s twins, Aflasafe TZ01 and TZ02 – jointly referred to as Aflasafe TZ – are fully developed and will soon be registered. As such, ATTC has moved into town to help tailor Aflasafe TZ’s commercialisation strategy, working in close collaboration with stakeholders. More
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Don’t see an update on your country of interest? Aflasafe is currently available in six countries across Africa, and undergoing development, testing or registration in eleven more. For all the latest details, visit Aflasafe where I am.
New from us, and news from the world
Aflasafe in the news
Aflasafe is a hot topic! In June, Ghana’s leading daily, The Graphic, published our opinion piece, Combating deadly aflatoxin in Ghana’s food, the Aflasafe GH02 solution, to coincide with the buzz around the launch of Aflasafe GH02. Aflasafe has been mentioned in the media every month since January 2017 – a period now fully covered by our press cuttings page.
Website & multimedia
 New to the world of Aflasafe, or know someone who is? Have 90 seconds to spare? That’s long enough for the highlights, in our exciting new video trailer.
The latest content on our website includes an in-depth section on food safety and health and a new privacy policy. More
We also continue to expand our range of country-specific print and multimedia materials, supporting our commercialisation partners. More
Aflasafe R&D
Ethiopia is the latest country – number 17 – on the Aflasafe map, with research underway on product development. Check out Facebook for some lovely snaps of the R&D team’s sampling trip.
In June, several members of the team participated in presentations and posters at the 2nd African Symposium on Mycotoxicology. Lamine Senghor gave a keynote address on The biocontrol product Aflasafe SN01: a registered tool for aflatoxin mitigation in maize and groundnut in Senegal and Gambia. Debo Akande, Juliet Akello and Antonio Mauro also gave presentations.
And finally we have a new website page on R&D awards, so come and eye up the team’s achievements!
What next for Aflasafe commercialisation?
We have our work well cut out, with full-scale commercialisation across six – and soon to be seven – countries in Africa. This is an opportune time to reflect on and apply cross-country lessons, helping us speed up progress in our relatively newer countries of engagement. Alongside this practical application of lessons learnt, we will ramp up in-country, sub-regional and continental partnerships on awareness creation. This has already been initiated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in West Africa, with whom we are holding joint training sessions. The other aspect we’ll be focusing on is sustained media engagement, critical to awareness creation. This too has been initiated starting with the recent product launches in Burkina Faso and Ghana. ATTC will also be an active participant at the upcoming Africa Green Revolution Forum, where we hope to ignite B2B engagements in agribusiness amongst stakeholders and interested parties based on mutual needs and interests.
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