Maize rustles in the breeze across Tanzania's heartlands with renewed promise. Farmers who once feared consuming their own harvests now look to the future with confidence.
"We used to mix mouldy maize with good maize and consume it," one farmer recalled. "Now we dry, sort, and store it properly. No one in our family has fallen ill."
For decades, aflatoxins - poisonous substances produced by moulds - contaminated maize and groundnuts, causing illness, income loss, and death across Tanzania. Between 2016 and 2017, an outbreak claimed 19 lives and hospitalized 65 people.
Images of a maize field devastated by aflatoxins in Tanzania. "I saw my child vomiting, and in the morning her eyes were yellow," said Asha Juma, an aflatoxin survivor from Dodoma. Others suffered worse tragedy. "I lost my wife and two children," said Salum Abdu, a farmer living in Dodoma. "Unaware of the risks, we continued to harvest and consumed maize that had fallen to the ground and was stored poorly."
A national response
To tackle this crisis, the Government of Tanzania, with support from the African Development Bank and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (a World Bank Group intermediary fund reinforcing multilateral efforts to tackle food insecurity), launched the Tanzania Initiative for Preventing Aflatoxin Contamination (TANIPAC) in 2020. The $33-million initiative, targeting maize and groundnut value chains, is reversing one of agriculture's most persistent threats.
For smallholder farmers, training in good agricultural practices and post-harvest management has been transformational.
"After receiving training, I now ensure maize is fully dried in the field before harvest," one participant said. "Our families are healthy, our crops are clean, and our yields have doubled."
Building safe storage, creating livelihoods
Poor storage once turned abundance into danger. TANIPAC introduced steel silos that keep crops dry and insect-free and trained 420 young artisans on how to build them through the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) and Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), two nationally recognized skills training programmes in Tanzania.
"They trained us on fabricating steel silos as a group, and I turned it into a business," said Hassan Juma, a craftsman from Dodoma. Each artisan received technical and business training plus essential workshop tools including welding machines, grinders, drills, and saws.
"The tools helped me open my own workshop," added Ramadhani Mrisho from Zanzibar.
The project's influence continues to spread far beyond its initial beneficiaries.
TANIPAC trainees measure and construct steel storage silos in Dodoma, Tanzania.
"We learned how to construct facilities using proper standards," said Dickson Philipo, an entrepreneur from Mtwara.
Strengthening national systems for the future
TANIPAC has also built 14 modern warehouses, a central agricultural reference laboratory, a national biological control unit, and a post-harvest centre of excellence. These facilities are accelerating contamination detection and improving food safety in Tanzania. The reference laboratory has already analysed over 5,600 samples, expanding access to high-value export markets.
At the biological control unit, experts monitor the quality of Aflasafe, to ensure consistent standards. This innovative biocontrol solution is used extensively in several African countries to combat aflatoxin contamination.
Researchers at the Biological Control Unit test groundnut and maize samples for aflatoxin contamination.
"Our country now has a single hub where buyers can confidently source safe, high-quality food," noted Clepin Josephat, TANIPAC Project Coordinator.
Processors and transporters are also reaping the benefits. "After TANIPAC training, we produce high-quality, safe flour and have even won national awards," explained Mata Salum Salami from Zanzibar.
Across Tanzania, farmers report safer food, healthier families, higher yields, and stronger local economies.
"TANIPAC shows that when knowledge and innovation come together, we don't just fight contamination--we build a healthier, more prosperous Tanzania," said Salum Ramadhani, the African Development Bank Group's task manager.
