The 2nd PACA Partnership Platform Meeting

Abstract

This brochure provided background information on the 2nd PACA partnership platform meeting held to deliberate on effects of Aflatoxins as a major developmental challenge in Africa, adversely affecting household food and nutrition security, trade and income, and public health. Aflatoxins are poisonous chemicals naturally produced by fungi that contaminate many staple crops widely grown across Africa. Contamination of food crops by this deadly toxin begins from the field and is primarily aggravated by adverse climatic conditions and inadequate agricultural practices, and continues during postharvest with improper storage and handling. The Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa is on a mission to coordinate and catalyze effective aflatoxin control along agricultural value chains in Africa. Based on the ten year PACA Strategy (2013-2022), the PACA Secretariat is guided by a Mid-Term Strategic Direction (2014-2017) that includes actions to bring about tangible results in the control of aflatoxin on the continent. At the First PACA Partnership Platform Meeting (PPM) in 2014, stakeholders reached a consensus that the PACA Secretariat’s Strategic Direction would inform the actions to be implemented by the Secretariat in the six PACA Pilot Countries while supporting other countries which are not yet involved in the pilot projects. Additionally, at the continental level, the 1st PPM identified concrete areas for various stakeholders to implement for impact and results in aflatoxin mitigation which were informed by discussions centered on the “state of knowledge, technologies, and best practices.” Building on these outcomes, the 2nd PPM will analyze implementation progress at continental, regional and national level for scaling up. The 2nd PPM will explore the progress of implementing action areas at the continental, regional and national levels, thereby assessing the achievements, success factors, bottlenecks and challenges of implementation. Furthermore, this PPM will consider means of sustaining implementation of activities and results beyond the piloting phase of PACA support in the six Pilot Countries. Subsequently, new thinking and actions will be drawn by learning from the challenges; and scaling up the successes. Additionally, agents of change and champions who have driven successful aflatoxin mitigation efforts on the continent will be celebrated.