1) Adverse effects on human health and livestock.

2) Blood tests have shown that very high percentage of the populations of several countries in Asia and Africa are exposed to aflatoxins.

3) Important for International trade.

Taking into account our past achievements, ICRISAT in collaboration with several partners will focus research and development on the following

Future Thrust
1) Integrated Management

      a) Technologies for pre-harvest , post-harvest and storage       

      b) Identification of high yielding resistant genotypes
               i)  Robust screening methods to be developed 
               ii) Markers for resistance, e.g. lypoxygenase genes

2) Assessment of risk to health of human and livestock

3) Socioeconomic issues
         a) Public awareness
         b) Management options to reduce contamination
         c) Implications to international trade

4) Breeding for resistance
         a) Conventional breeding
         b) Non-conventional approaches to develop resistant cultivars
         c) Antifungal genes (chitinase)

5)  Utilization of biological control agents 
        Examples: Trichoderma, Pseudomonads

Conclusions

1) ICRISAT’s research is focused and should ensure impact

2) Is a global problem and focus on an integrated approach to reduce contamination

3) Partnerships with various governmental, ARIs, and NGOs are crucial for success