dc.description.abstract | In the tropics, staples such as maize are often contaminated with mycotoxins, harmful
by-products of fungal metabolism. In particular, high exposure to aflatoxins may cause
fatal illness in people and animals, while chronic exposure can cause liver cancer in
humans and, in domestic animals, growth depression and immune suppression. However,
little is known about the potential health risks of milk contaminated with aflatoxins.
Moreover, because of different consumption patterns and biology, men, women, boys
and girls may experience different levels of risk, while because of gender roles, men and
women may have different capacity to mitigate risk; yet, there are few gendered analyses
of aflatoxins. This study conducts a qualitative, gendered study on awareness and
perceptions of mycotoxins and how these influence risk of dietary exposure to
mycotoxins among dairy farmers in Kenya. First, a risk map was developed based on
previous occurrence of aflatoxicosis and relevant factors such as farming systems and
dairy cattle density. This resulted in three risk categories: high risk with historical
outbreaks of human aflatoxicosis, high risk without historical outbreaks and low risk with
historical outbreaks. From each category, three districts were randomly selected and from
each district, three villages. A focus group discussion (FGD) tool was developed and
used for interviews to assess factors related to the potential risk of exposure to
mycotoxins in identified risk regions and how perception of risk and risk management
differed by gender. In each village, two sex-disaggregated FGDs were conducted,
yielding a total of 54 FGDs. This study found that overall risk categories, awareness of
mycotoxicosis and carcinogenic effects was generally low, but awareness that eating
mouldy food is harmful was high. Women were more cautious than men about feeding
spoilt maize to cattle. Preventive measures against fungal contamination were more
common post-harvest than pre-harvest. With respect to dairy cow diets and disposal of
mouldy foods, women were key decision-makers. Although commercial feeds are
expensive and may be contaminated with mycotoxins, farmers regularly fed them to their
cattle in low quantities to potentiate milk production. Milk was mainly sold for income
generation. The farmer families consumed milk mainly in tea, which was not given to
children below school-going age, thus reducing exposure to mycotoxins but also the
nutritional benefits of milk. Meat was considered safe even if the cattle had been fed
mouldy feeds. This study shows that there is a low understanding of the dangers of
mycotoxins in food, and that certain practices among farmers may increase the risk for
exposure. Gender analysis reveals that groups having knowledge are not always
responsible for risk mitigation. | en_US |