IRIN examines an 18-month project in Kenya testing a maize treatment aimed at controlling “a deadly fungus, aflatoxin,” which has the potential to cause cancer, immune system suppression, growth retardation, liver disease and death among the “literally billions of people in the developing world” who are chronically exposed to the fungus.

The news agency reports that “the project also needs to answer some key questions about how to market [the treatment] aflasafe,” because “[f]or farmers, the question of affordability and added value is central, and could determine whether or not they use the product, no matter how effective it is” (6/30).