Climate Change Impact on Aflatoxin Contamination Risk in Malawi's Maize Crops

Erika A. Warnatzsch,David S. Reay,Paola Battilani,Marco Camardo Leggieri

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2020.591792

Abstract

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with high levels of malnutrition and little domestic mycotoxin regulation. Domestically grown maize is the largest single source of calories in the country and a large contributor to the economy. This research uses Regional Climate Models (RCMs) to determine the climatic conditions in the three regions of Malawi (Northern, Central and Southern) in 2035 (2020–2049) and 2055 (2040–2069) as compared to the baseline climate of 1971–2000. This climatic data is then used as inputs to the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) AquaCrop model to assess the impact on the growth cycle of two maize varieties grown in each region and sown at three different times during the planting season. Finally, AFLA-maize, a mechanistic model, is applied to determine the impact of these projected changes on the aflatoxin B1(AFB1) contamination risk. We find that Malawi's climate is projected to get warmer (by 1–2.5°C) and drier (reduction of 0–4% in annual rainfall levels) in all regions, although some uncertainty remains around the changes in precipitation levels. These climatic changes are expected to shorten the growing season for maize, bringing the harvest date forward by between 10 and 25 days for the short-development variety and between 25 and 65 days for the long-development variety. These changes are also projected to make the pre-harvest conditions for Malawian maize more favorable for AFB1contamination and risk maps for the studied conditions were drawn. Exceedances of EU safety thresholds are expected to be possible in all regions, with the risk of contamination moving northwards in a warming climate.

Highlights

Food crops are an ideal substrate for fungal mold growth, and this is a major cause of spoilage in the food supply chain (Adeyeye, 2016)
The main food crops grown in Malawi are not safe from mycotoxin contamination (Misihairabgwi et al, 2017) and with much of the population reliant on unregulated subsistence farming, and no regulation on levels of mycotoxins found in domestically grown food sold in local markets (Mwalwayo and Thole, 2016), the population is at risk of dangerous levels of mycotoxin exposure
This model has been shown to be effective in predicting aflatoxin contamination in maize crops grown in Italy (Battilani et al, 2013), it was effectively used to assess the impact of climate change on mycotoxin risk in Europe (Battilani et al, 2016), and recently the model was successfully adapted to predict aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) occurrence in pistachio-nuts in Greece (Kaminiaris et al, 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Food crops are an ideal substrate for fungal mold growth, and this is a major cause of spoilage in the food supply chain (Adeyeye, 2016). These molds can impact both the quality and quantity of the crop yield, and can contaminate the edible part of the crops with toxic secondary metabolites called mycotoxins (Bhat and Miller, 1991; Magan et al, 2011). High levels of malnutrition and incidence of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (IHME, 2018), make the population of Malawi vulnerable to the adverse health effects of mycotoxin exposure

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