. Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzanian economy. It accounts for about one-third of the gross domestic product (GDP), provides 85 percent of all exports and saves as a livelihood to over 80 percent of the total population. Maize is the primary staple crop; itâ€™s grown in nearly all agro-ecological zones in the country. Tanzania is a major maize producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last four decades, Tanzania has ranked among the top 25 maize producing countries in the world. In the 2013/14 growing seasons Tanzania produced over half billion metric tons of maize of these maize smallholder farmers produced around 85%. Despite the steady production of maize over the past three decades, post-harvest losses of maize remained significant, up to 30-40 % in some rural areas. Post-harvest handling, poor infrastructure, weather variability, biotic factors such as insects and pests, bacteria, pathogens, viruses, and fungi, often aggravate such losses. Mycotoxin producing fungi pose a major risk. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites of fungi that frequently contaminate the maize in the field and/or during storage. Mycotoxin contamination of maize poses a health risk to humans and animals if not properly managed. The most important mycotoxins in Tanzania are the aflatoxins, fumonisins and Ochratoxin. The objective of this paper was to review current literature on the production trends, consumption, post-harvest losses, and mycotoxins contamination of maize and to provide strategies to control and prevent postharvest losses and mycotoxins contamination in Tanzania.

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1450&context=abe_eng_conf

Current Maize Production, Postharvest Losses and the Risk of Mycotoxins Contamination in Tanzania

Our understanding and prevention of postharvest losses are critical if we are to feed a growing global population. Insect infestation-related losses of stored commodities are typically considered only in terms of quantitative, physical weight loss. Insect infestation affects the nutritional value and some nutritional components are impacted more severely than others. We infested maize and cowpea grain with commonly occurring stored product insect pests, and mapped infestation levels against nutritional composition over a 4-to-6 month storage period to analyse how insect infestation relates to different macro- and micro-nutrient contents. Insect infestation decreased the carbohydrate content of the stored grains, causing a relative increase in the proportion of protein and fibre in the remaining grain, and moisture content also increased. Sitophilus zeamais preferentially fed in the floury endosperm of maize, resulting in more carbohydrate loss relative to protein loss. Conversely, Prostephanus truncatus consumed the germ and endosperm, disproportionately reducing the fat, protein, iron and zinc grain contents. Nutrients are distributed more homogenously within cowpea than in maize grains, but Callosobruchus maculatus infestation increased the relative protein, fat, iron and zinc to carbohydrate ratios. This indicates how the nutrient content of insect-infested stored grain depends upon the grain type, the infesting insect, and the infestation level. Insect infestation therefore has consequences for human nutrition beyond those of grain weight loss. Using data collected on the changing nutritional composition of grain over time, with and without insect infestation, we modelled the associations between infestation and nutritional quality to predict estimated nutritional losses that could be associated with consumption of insect-infested stored maize and cowpea.

/pdf/measuring-the-nutritional-cost-of-insect-infestation-of-2bgsl8mscu.pdf

Measuring the nutritional cost of insect infestation of stored maize and cowpea

Rodent management in agriculture remains a major challenge in developing countries where resource-poor farmersareillequippedtodealwithpestspecies.Itiscompoundedbyunpredictableoutbreaks,latecontrolactions,lackof/or inadequateexpertinterventions,expensiverodenticidesandotherfactors.Ecologicallybasedrodentmanagement(EBRM)is recommended as the way forward for rodent management in Africa. EBRM relies on understanding the ecology of pest species and formulating this knowledge into management programs. The present paper evaluates the potential for establishing EBRM in Africa and the challenges that have to be overcome to implement it. The major constraints for establishingEBRMinAfricaincludetheabsenceofkeystudiesonthetaxonomyandecologyofrodents,inadequateresearch on EBRM, lack of knowledge by farmers on available technologies and agricultural policies that are unfavourable. The developmentofEBRManditssuccessinAsiaisastrongencouragementtoAfricanscientiststodevelopsimilarmanagement strategiesforthemostimportantpestspeciessuchasthemultimammaterats,Mastomysnatalensis.EBRMinitiativessuchas theDevelopmentofEcologicallyBasedRodentManagementfortheSouthernAfricaRegion(ECORAT)projectundertook studies on e.g. rodent ecology, taxonomy, knowledge, attitude and practices and rodent-human interactions in rural agricultural communities. Through this project, EBRM interventions were introduced in Tanzania, Swaziland and Namibia to provide solutions to local rodent-pest problems. Intervention actions including community-based intensive trapping of rodents, habitat manipulation and sanitary measures demonstrated that the impacts of rodents on communities could be drastically reduced. EBRM programs in Africa must address how to change attitudes of target communities, building scientificcapacity,implantingrodent-managementskillsbytranslatingthedevelopedtechnologiesandstrategiesintosimple understandable and easy-to-implement actions and influencing policy makers to accept the concepts and practices to be introduced. Further, we need to demonstrate that EBRM is economically feasible and sustainable and that through community participation, EBRM will become deeply rooted in those communities.

Ecologically based rodent management in Africa: potential and challenges

Ungulates have become abundant in many temperate forests, shifting tree species composition by browsing and altering soil physical conditions by trampling. Whether these effects cascade down to other trophic levels and ecosystem processes is poorly understood. Here, we assess the paths through which ungulates have cascading effects on other trophic levels (regeneration, litter, invertebrates, rodents and organic matter decomposition). We compared ungulate effects by comparing 15 response variables related to different trophic levels between paired fenced and unfenced plots in twelve temperate forest sites across the Netherlands, and used pathway analysis model to identify the (in)direct pathways through which ungulates have influenced these variables. We found that plots with ungulates (that is, unfenced) compared to plots without (that is, fenced) had lower litter depth, sapling diversity, sapling density, rodent activity, macro-invertebrate biomass, decomposition rate of tea bags, pine and birch litter and higher soil compaction. These findings were used in a path analysis to establish potential causal relationships, which showed that ungulate presence: decreased sapling density, which indirectly decreased rodent activity; decreased litter depth, which indirectly reduced invertebrate diversity; increased soil compaction, which also decreased invertebrate diversity. Soil pH decreased invertebrate biomass, which also increased nitrogen mineralization. Yet, we did not find cascading effects of ungulates on decomposition rates. Importantly, an increase in ungulate abundance strengthens the cascading effects in this system. Our results suggest that ungulates can trigger cascading effects on lower trophic levels, yet decomposition and mineralization rates are resilient to ungulate browsing and trampling. Therefore, temperate forests conservation could benefit by limiting ungulate abundance.

/pdf/above-and-below-ground-cascading-effects-of-wild-ungulates-3nzep8z9cl.pdf

Above- and Below-ground Cascading Effects of Wild Ungulates in Temperate Forests

Post-harvest damage to stored grain by rodents in village environments in Laos

This study examined rodent damage, loss and contamination in stored maize on smallholder farms in East Africa. Different, novel techniques for assessing rodent damage, namely open and closed storage structures (cribs and sacks), were employed in a treatment-control trial design replicated across different households and hamlets within the Berega community of Central Tanzania. Significant correlations were observed between the monthly rates of rodent-damaged maize seeds, maize weight loss and the number of rodent droppings. Significant differences in damage, loss and contamination occurred between different storage structures (open and closed cribs and sacks). The mean monthly rate of damage was 40.4%, 7.9%, 17.7% and 0% percent in open cribs, closed cribs, open sacks and closed sacks, respectively. Our results suggest that reducing rodent infestation through the use of improved storage structures could lead to major savings in the amount and quality of stored food available to households, thus increasing food security.

http://projects.nri.org/stoprats/images/Mdangietal2013.pdf

Assessment of rodent damage to stored maize (Zea mays L.) on smallholder farms in Tanzania

Mulungu, L.S., Belmain, S.R., Dlamini, N., Eiseb, S., Kirsten, F., Mahlaba, T., Makundi, R., Malebane, P., Von Maltitz, E., Massawe, A., Monadjem, A., Taylor, P., Tutjavi, V.

/pdf/the-ecorat-project-development-of-ecologically-based-rodent-2kxhdqf3pb.pdf

The Ecorat project: development of ecologically-based rodent management for the southern African region.

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Assessment of rodent damage to stored maize (Zea mays L.) on smallholder farms in Tanzania

The Ecorat project: development of ecologically-based rodent management for the southern African region.