Aubee bags AU award for fungi control

In recognition of his contributions toward addressing challenges of aflatoxin Africa, Ernest Aubee, was recently honoured by the African Union (AU).Aubee, who is of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, ECOWAS Commission, received the African Union Award/Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) as a change agent for aflatoxin mitigation in Africa.

The award, which was presented by the African Union Commissioner for rural economy and agriculture, Josefa Sacko, in Dakar, Senegal, last week, was in the category of Policy and creating of an enabling environment in the areas of agriculture and food security, health and comparative trade.

Speaking to The Guardian in Abuja, the elated Aubee stated that the award meant a lot to him and the ECOWAS Commission.“It was in recognition of what I have done in the last seven years in trying to ensure that we address the challenges of aflatoxin in the area of agriculture and food security, health and human wellbeing and also in the area of comparative trade”, he added.

According to Aubee, his research in the area of aflatoxin control has led to a number of continental strategies and polices developed by AU to address aflatoxin menace across Africa.“Countries in Africa have gotten their own aflatoxin action plans to combat the menace.”

For our programme, in the whole of the continent, we have done pilot in six countries and it has been extended to 55 countries where we will apply lessons learnt from the pilot countries,” he explained. 

Aflatoxin is a fungi disease that affects crops such as maize, groundnuts, cottonseed and rice. Crops contaminated by aflatoxin can pose serious threat to humans and livestock.