{"id":3467,"date":"2026-09-02T10:01:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=3467"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:01:22","slug":"rwanda-seeks-safer-maize-as-aflatoxin-hits-farmers-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/rwanda-seeks-safer-maize-as-aflatoxin-hits-farmers-markets\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda seeks safer maize as aflatoxin hits farmers, markets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda is exploring new maize varieties that could help curb aflatoxin contamination, as the food-safety threat continues to affect farmers, processors and consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An assessment by maize processor MINIMEX found that about half of the maize it received was rejected because of aflatoxin contamination, highlighting a challenge for a country that produces about 500,000 metric tonnes of maize annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists meeting at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali are examining whether maize bred to resist aflatoxin-producing fungi could help reduce contamination while improving access to formal markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agnes Kalibata, a Rwandan board member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), said advances in plant science were opening new possibilities for addressing crop vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a possibility of editing plant genes that have been problematic and giving plants the ability to deal with those problems,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalibata said CIMMYT already has maize varieties with resistance to aflatoxin that are expected to be released soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aflatoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain fungi that can grow on maize, groundnuts, sorghum and other crops, particularly in warm and humid conditions. Contamination can occur before harvest or during storage, while affected grain may appear normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term exposure can cause serious health problems, including liver disease and cancer. In children, exposure has been associated with impaired growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers say resistant varieties would complement improved drying and storage practices, which remain important for limiting contamination after harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research comes as African agriculture faces wider pressures from climate change, drought, pests and disease. Kalibata said drought-tolerant crops, improved genetics and gene-editing technologies could help farmers adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda\u2019s Agriculture Minister Telesphore Ndabamenye said greater investment was needed to accelerate climate-resilient agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Rwanda\u2019s Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan, prepared with the International Finance Corporation, had identified $335.4 million in potential private investment by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan seeks to connect 170,200 farmers and 375 companies to climate-smart finance while improving the productivity and resilience of 83,250 hectares of farmland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innocent Musabyimana, Chief Agricultural Technologies Officer at the African Development Bank, said developing new technologies was only part of the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bigger challenge is ensuring that technologies reach millions of farmers at the scale and speed required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers also need access to finance, markets, insurance, information and reliable input networks, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda is exploring new maize varieties that could help curb aflatoxin contamination, as the food-safety threat continues to affect farmers, processors and consumers. An assessment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,43,53,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3472,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions\/3472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}