Abstract:
Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by fungi as secondary metabolites. Their level of
occurrence has gained global concern, especially in the aquaculture industry, because
mycotoxins have shown to be persistent in fish flesh, causing a severe threat to animal welfare
and human health. Communities should be aware of the dangers of Aflatoxin so that such
knowledge will enable them to handle fish feeds appropriately. This study aimed at
establishing contributing factors leading to mycotoxin contamination among farmers and fish
feed traders on their effects and possible management strategies. A questionnaire and an
observation checklist were used to collect data. A Cross-sectional exploratory study was
employed; both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The Snowball technique was
used to identify the respondents. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) version 24, Binary logistic regression was used to determine associations,
and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Sixty-two respondents were interviewed;
results indicate that more women farmers, 34 (54.8%), participated in the interview than men,
28 (45.2%). Most of the respondents, 53.2%, attained secondary 24.2%, and 11.3% tertiary
education in both counties. Among the respondents who have heard of mycotoxins, a quarter
(OR: 1.003) of them have heard of Aflatoxins only. Maize 49.7% with a mean of (±14.2) was
the primary fish feed ingredient. Out of the 62 samples, 19.4% (±1.33; SD 0.592) were
contaminated with AFB1, with the majority of the contaminated feeds 66.7% (±0.25; SD 0.44)
were from Kisumu County. Traders were 0.006 times likely to have better knowledge of
Aflatoxin than farmers. The findings have shown that education holds a positive and
significant correlation with the level of knowledge and occurrence of those who attained
secondary (OR 1.078: CI 0.736-1.580) and college (OR 1.050: CI 0.594-1.856). Some of the
storage practices were found to influence the exposure of the feeds to the growth of fungi and
mycotoxin contamination. Hence, there is a need for more sensitization and training targeting
farmers and traders. Additionally, there is a need for a heightened surveillance program to
monitor local ingredients, finished feeds, and storage processes.
