Some $35.3million will be spent to fight Aflatoxin and other fungi affecting grains in Tanzania.
The bulk of the funds will be spent on awareness creation and setting up of the requisite units and structures that will spearhead the effort.
These are to include the National Biological Control Unit (NBCU) to be based at Kibaha in Coast region.
Others are the Central Agricultural Reference Laboratory and Post Harvest Centre for Excellence, both to be set up in Dodoma region.
This emerged in Dodoma on Wednesday May 19th at the end of a journalists' seminar on Aflatoxin contamination and its impact on health and trade.
The fight against the toxic fungus will be spearheaded by Tanzania Initiatives for Preventing Aflatoxin Contamination (Tanipac) project.
The multi-sectoral, five year project that was launched in 2019 extends to 2023 and will be implemented in 14 regions, two of them in the Isles.
Tanipac's monitoring and evaluation director Kassim Msuya said $20million of the funds is sourced from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP).
This is a global financing instrument dedicated to fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the world's poorest countries.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) granted $13million while the government of Tanzania will contribute $2million to the kitty.
Mr.Msuya told journalists at the two-day seminar that 14 grain storage facilities would be constructed across the country under the project.
He added that implementation of the project also aims to improve post harvest services of the cereals. notably maize and groundnuts which are most affected.
"The maximum moisture content for grains in storage or being transported should not exceed 18 per cent", he insisted.
Aflatoxin, a cancer causing fungus, was first detected in Tanzania (Dodoma and Manyara regions) 2016.
It was reported 68 people were hospitalized for treatment and 20 deaths confirmed of those who consumed the affected maize.
Dr. Analice Kamala from the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) said for maize to be declared unfit for human consumption it must have 10 parts per billion of the fungus.
She said although climate change was to blame for the fungus, the situation has been compounded by poor storage and transportation systems of the grains.
Aflatoxins was first described by scientists in 1960 following the deaths of 200,000 ducks in the UK after consuming contaminated grain feed.
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