Collaborations

Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA)

Abt Associates on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would like to launch in collaboration with the Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria for the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA). PACA was newly launched in 2011 and reports to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

On behalf of the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA), Abt Associates will be carrying out a Country Wide Assessment of research and also assess country-led solutions to prevent and mitigate aflatoxin’s effect on Nigeria’s human and animal health as well as food security and trade .

The Country Assessment will seek to lay the groundwork for a country-led control strategy; point to potential high impact policy/regulatory and institutional changes that decision-makers might consider; suggest prevention and mitigation measures that might be undertaken in the short, medium and long-run; pave the way for possible requests for donor technical and financial assistance and finally, be created in a replicable in a financial and technical sense. The country assessment would be based on currently available data to provide an objective and reasonably accurate picture of the situation, risk and outlook for aflatoxin control in Nigeria.

Nigeria and Tanzania have been selected by the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) to inform development of country-led aflatoxin mitigation strategies because both countries have high number of cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) attributable to aflatoxins with Nigeria having the highest estimated number of cases in the world. MSN has been recognized in Nigeria as the main body responsible for the progress being made in this direction. Consequently, three members of the Society namely Dr. Olusegun Atanda (President), Mrs. Folashade Oluwabamiwo (Coordinator of Training) and Mrs. Modupe Adetunji were recently appointed Lead Consultant and Consultants respectively on the Country-wide assessment of aflatoxins.

Final report of the Country -Wide Assessment of Aflatoxins can be downloaded here

RMRDC

The RMRDC is a Federal Government parastatal under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The parastatal which was established vide Decree 39 of 1987, has the primary mandate to “promote the development, production, processing and utilization of the nation’s natural resources as inputs for industry.
In pursuit of her mandate, the Council undertakes programmes and projects in collaboration with relevant government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Corporate Organizations and individuals with similar aspirations for the overall economic and industrial growth and development of Nigeria.

In view of these and considering the role of MSN in commodity value chain, the Council is inviting your organization for collaboration on the subject matter. By this letter Sir, you are please requested to nominate an officer, not below the rank of Chief, to be on the collaborating team which would eventually culminate into a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for subsequent issues on the subject matter.

The proposed collaborating organizations include Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria (MSN), National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Initiative for Food and Environmental Safety (ICFES), Abuja Securities Commodities Exchange, Strategic Grains Reserve, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Health, Reliance Global Trends Investment Limited and Farms to Market Synergies Limited, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).

For further information contact Dr. A. Negedu through (Tel: 08055240599 or E-mail: tonyneg2000@yahoo.com)

AFRICAN MYCOTOXIN NETWORK

Many members of MSN are members of the African Mycotoxin Network in their individual capacities. It is hoped that the African Nycotoxin Network will be a binding force for all Mycotoxicology Societies in the continent in future. View website