Circle One Global, based in Cuthbert, is the sole licensee of Aflaguard, a genetically engineered product that controls aflatoxin, a toxin caused by mold that can poison peanuts, corn, tobacco and other crops, company official Alvin Jones said.
The second-most severe naturally-occurring toxin, after dioxin, aflatoxin is better controlled in the United States, through sorting and inspection procedures, but in Africa, people routinely die from consuming aflatoxin, Jones said.
“Young children are fed a peanut paste as a protein supplement,” he said. “Many times it’s contaminated, and can lead to the deaths of young children.”
Jones was in Albany last week to meet with two businessmen from South Africa, Jack Raath and Richard Kettlewell, who are working to introduce Aflaguard to South African farmers.
“In the previous year, up to 60 percent of the (South African peanut) crop was affected at various levels with aflatoxin,” said Raath.
“That impacts severely on the eventual value and marketing of that crop,” he said.
The product, a strain of mold that crowds out the harmful molds, is simple to use, he said.
“The smallest farmer can add this into the production system by applying the product by hand during the growing season,” Raath said.
Unfortunately, in most African countries, the best aflatoxin-free peanuts are exported to Europe, while the rest are left behind for local populations to eat, Kettlewell said.
Circle One holds the only license to produce and market Aflaguard, which was developed by researchers at the National Peanut Lab in Dawson, Jones said.
After several years of trials, the product was approved for use on U.S. peanuts, and a similar process is ongoing in South Africa.
“We exported it to Nicaragua several years ago, and this year is the first year that we can use a product commercially in Brazil,” Jones said.
After winning approval to market Aflaguard in Brazil, the company through a partnership opened a production facility there this year, and would do the same in South Africa, he said.
“Transport would be prohibitive from Cuthbert,” Raath said.
It will likely take two seasons of trials for Aflaguard to be approved for use in South Africa, but if it is, other African countries will follow, Raath said.
The growing ethanol industry that’s driven U.S. corn production to 85-90 million acres this year has created another wrinkle receptive to Aflaguard, Jones said.
The distillers’ grains created during ethanol production — to be sold as livestock feed — increase in aflatoxin three-fold during the process, he said.
