Nursing and Health Care Researchers

Review Article *Corresponding Author: Abdulsalam Abdullah, Department of Physi

Received: 11-01-2022
Assessment of Traders’ Knowledge on Prevention of Accepted: 23-01-2022
Published: 26-01-2022
Mycotoxin Contamination in Markets in Federal
Copyright
Capital Territorial, Abuja © 2021 Abdulsalam Abdullah OPEN ACCESS

Andy Anyalewachi Ukah1, Ashimiyu T.Azeez2, Abdulsalam

Abdullah*2, Olushola F. Ajibola3

1
Department of Environment and Occupational health Science,
School of Public Health, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo city,
Ondo State, Nigeria.

2
Department of Physical and Health Education, University of
Maiduguri, Borno State.

3
Department of Physical and Health Education, Federal College of
Education, OKene, Kogi State.

Abstract
This study assessed traders’ knowledge of prevention of mycotoxin contamination in Federal Capital Territorial markets, Abuja. Two
research questions, two research objective and two hypotheses guided the study. This adopted survey research design. The population for this
study comprises all traders’ in the selected major market in Abuja, which includes W use market, Garki international market, Utako
ultramodern market, Kado fish market, Karmo market, Gudu market, and Maitama farmers’ market, the estimated population for this study is
ten thousand and seventy three (10,073). Accidental sampling procedure was used to distribute copies of questionnaire to the respondents.
The instrument used for the study was researcher’s developed questionnaire, named questionnaire on assessment of traders’ knowledge of
prevent of mycotoxins contamination. The validity was established using the face and content, the reliability of the instrument was 0.81.
Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage was used to describe the demographic characteristics and to point out respondents’
opinion on research questions formulated while inferential statistics of chi-square and independent t-test was used to test all the formulated
null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. All the tested hypotheses were accepted at 0.05 alpha level. The result of our data analyzed showed that
(90.2%) of our respondents had no good knowledge of mycotoxin contamination. Similarly, the result of tested hypothesis indicated that
there is no significant difference in knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja. It is concluded that traders in FCT
Abuja have no good knowledge of prevention of mycotoxin contamination. Therefore, it is recommended general public should be educated
on dangers of mycotoxin in order to have good knowledge of prevention of mycotoxin contamination.

Keywords: Traders, Knowledge, Prevention of Mycotoxin, Contamination.

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

Introduction:
Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites produced by the
toxigenic strains of the fungi, and these compounds contaminate
various food substances and agricultural crops [1]. Mycotoxins are
very stable, and their contamination in agricultural commodities can
be pre-harvest, during harvest, and post-harvest, resulting in the
classification of the mycotoxin-producing fungi as field and storage
fungi [2]. Mycotoxin production is affected by several conditions
which can be biological, chemical, and physiological. However,
some of these factors are beyond human control, especially
ecological and environmental factors such as temperature, nutrient
content of substrate, and relative humidity, which play important
roles in toxin production. Most mycotoxins are produced in hot and
humid climates, mainly the tropical countries, most of which are
African countries [3]. A recent study conducted by stated that over
25% of world food crop production is affected by mycotoxins
contaminant [4]. It was also lamented that humans can be exposed to
a various forms of mycotoxins through ingestion of contaminated
foods with many mycotoxins or intake of different foods
contaminated by a single mycotoxin. Data on the co-existence of the
main mycotoxins in foods and beverages are increasing due to the
presence and use of new and advance techniques appropriate for
simultaneous assessment of mycotoxins and other fungal
metabolites [5]. In a study survey conducted in Spain, Italy,
Marocco and Tunisia by Solfrizzo, Gambacorta and Visconti,
2014among 265 samples of cereal-based products commercialized,
it was revealed that 14% of the product samples were contained at
least two mycotoxins and 18% of the cereal-based products samples
were contained more than two mycotoxins consecutively.
Food safety is an integral part of food security among traders and a
pressing global problem. The development of sustainable agriculture
must entail efforts to support nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs
where food safety is addressed alongside food security. Throughout
Africa, and especially in Malawi, maize is a staple crop that makes
up the majority of peoples’ diet and is susceptible to contamination
with mycotoxins secondary metabolites produced by microfungi that
are capable of causing disease and death in humans and other
animals [6]. Exposure to mycotoxin, has been linked to stunting and
is a known hepatic carcinogen [7]. Malawi has the highest
prevalence of esophageal cancer in the world (24.2 per 100,000
people), alongside
Nursing and Health Care Researchers
widespread stunting, liver cancer, and other comorbidities associated
with mycotoxin exposure. Globally, experts are calling for greater
attention to mycotoxins, including social science research to
understand the complexity of factors contributing to risk and
agricultural practices [8].
Adesiji, Matanmi, Onikoyi and Saka, 2012, stated that over 200
mycotoxins have their origin from common molds. Consumption of
mycotoxin contaminated foodstuffs by man or animals impairs food
intake, efficiency of feed utilization, individual health and immunity
[9]. Ingestion of mycotoxins has serious health problem in the body
of the individual consuming contaminated food. This health problem
range from organ and tissue spoilage and sometimes to death on the
number of quantity and duration it was consumed. In a study
conducted in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the results showed that
95% of the farmers have sufficient knowledge that both man and
animals are vulnerable to mycotoxin contaminated feed-stuffs, while
5% neither agree nor disagree with animal vulnerability to mold
infested feed-stuffs [10]. It is against this background this study was
conducted to assess traders’ knowledge towards prevention of
mycotoxin contamination in market in federal capital territory
Abuja.
Methodology
Research Design
Survey research is the collection of information from a sample of
individuals through their responses to questions. This type of
research allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants,
collect data, and utilize various methods of instrumentation [11].
Survey research has historically included large population-based
data collection. The primary purpose of this type of survey research
was to obtain information describing characteristics of a large
sample of individuals of interest relatively quickly. These surveys
were often provided through the questionnaire, mail and were
intended to describe demographic characteristics of individuals or
obtain opinions on which to base programs or products for a
population or group [12].
Population and sampling
The population for this study comprises all traders’ in major market
in Abuja, which includes Wuse market, Garki international market,
Utako ultra modern market, Kado fish market, Karmo market, Gudu
market, and Maitama farmers’ market, the estimated population for
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this study is ten thousand and seventy three (10,073). The
sampling

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

procedure was as follows accidental sampling procedure was used to
Table 4.2: Frequency counts and percentage on
assign or distribute copies of questionnaire to respondents in Wuse knowledge of mycotoxins contamination
market, Garki international market, Utako ultramodern market,
S Statement Yes No
Kado fish market, Karmo market, Gudu market, and Maitama
/
farmers’ market. N
1 50 (14.2%) 316
Do you have enough information about mycotoxins in
Instrument use for data collection . (90.2%)
food and environment?

The instrument used for the study was researcher’s developed

2 80 (22.8%) 270(77.1%)
questionnaire, named knowledge of traders towards prevention of .
Can you identify suspected mycotoxins contamination on
food, food products or in the environment?
mycotoxins contamination among in FCT Abuja, Nigeria. The
validity of the instrument adopted in this study was established using 3 46(13.1%) 304(86.8%)
Are there visible signs of dampness anywhere in your
.
the face, content and construct validities. Content and face validities residence?

deal with assessing how all the items of the questionnaire measure
4 50 (14.2%) 300
all the different dimensions of the concept in all its characteristics Do you think people can develop cancer from mycotoxin
. (85.7%)
ingestion?
and appropriateness of the statements. To establish content and face
validities of the instrument, a draft of the self designed questionnaire 5 76 (21.7%) 274(78.2%)
.
was presented to psycho-metrics who examined it and offered
If your food items have strange powdery substances on it,
corrections that were incorporated. The corrected version was given do you throw such food items away?

to experts in experts in Public Health. The reliability of the research

7 35(10.0%) 315(90.0%)
instrument was ascertained through a pilot study called split-half, Can mycotoxins kill humans?
.

using cronbach’s alpha model of measuring reliability. One of the

market will be used to conduct a pilot study, outside those used for
Table 4.2 which is knowledge of traders about mycotoxins
the main study within the zone.
contamination shows that 50 (14.2%) of the traders have enough

Table 1: Demographic Information of the information about mycotoxins in food and environment, but 316
Respondents (90.2%) do not have enough information of mycotoxins. Eighty 80
(22.8%) of the respondents can identify suspected mycotoxins
S/N Gender Percentage (%) contamination on food, food products or in the environment, while
1. Male 214 (61.1%) 270 (77.1%) of them cannot. Also, the table shows that 46 (13.1%)
Female 136 (38.8%) of the traders three are visible signs of dampness in there residence,
while 304 (86.8%) said no. 50 (14.2%) of the respondents stated that
Table 4.1 which is on demographic information of the respondents one can develop cancer from mycotoxin ingestion, whereas 300
shows that 214 (61.1%) were male, while 136 (38.8%) were female. (85.7%) of the participants said no one develop cancer though
This implies that majority of the marketers in Abuja are male. mycotoxin ingestion. Similarly, 76 (21.7%) of the traders throw

Do traders in FCT Abuja have knowledge of away their food items if it powdery substance, while 274(78.2%)
mycotoxins contamination? still make use of the food items contain powdery substance. Lastly,
35(10.0%) of the respondents said mycotoxin can, while 315(90.0%)
of the marketer in Abuja in market said no, mycotoxin cannot kill.
This means that traders in Abuja markets had poor knowledge of
mycotoxin contamination.

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

Hypotheses testing
Ho1: There is no significance in knowledge of mycotoxins
contamination among traders in FCT Abuja
Table 4.4: Summary on knowledge of mycotoxins
Discussion
This study assessed traders’ knowledge towards prevention of
mycotoxin contamination in market in federal capital territory
Abuja. Traders in FCT Abuja markets (Wuse market, Garki

contamination among traders in FCT Abuja international market, Utako ultramodern market, Kado fish market,
Karmo market, Gudu market, and Maitama farmers’ market Abuja
dfChi- Prob Decision Markets Management Limited, 2005) have poor knowledge of
Observed Expected square
prevention of mycotoxin contamination. This can be seen as only 50
VARIABLES N N Residual
(14.2%) of the traders have enough information about mycotoxins in
a
YES 1 2.571 0.109Accepted food, but 316 (90.2%) do not have enough information of
160 175.0 -15.0
mycotoxins. Also, Eighty 80 (22.8%) of the respondents can identify
NO 190 175.0 15.0 suspected mycotoxins contamination on food, food products or in
the environment, while 270 (77.1%) of them cannot. This is
Total 350
supported by the recent study conducted in Markurdi, Nigeria among
markets by IItyo, Nyinoh, Kukwa & Okoh, (2021); they explained
Table 4.5 indicates there is no significance in knowledge of
that knowledge of Aflatoxin B1was very low, with only 36.36% of
mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja. Responses
the respondents (groundnut sellers) lamented that they were aware of
from the questionnaire on the tested chi-square (X2) calculated is
AF, Aflatoxin which is the secondary product of mycotoxin [13].
2.571 which is less than the table value of 3.841 at 0.05 level of
Further more, the result of their work find a relationship between
significant, therefore the null hypothesis was accepted. This
moisture content in the groundnuts and AFB1 levels from different
indicates there is no significance in knowledge of mycotoxins
markets sampled as the sample of the groundnut collected showed
contamination among traders in FCT Abuja.
high moisture content (>50 %) and high moisture content has
Ho2: There is no significant difference in knowledge of mycotoxins relationship with the level of AFB1. Similarly, the result of this
contamination among traders in FCT Abuja based on gender study corroborate the conducted in Tanzania by Magembe,
Mwatawala, Mamiro and Chingonikaya, (2016), where the authors
Table 4.6: t-test summary on knowledge of
reported that t 97 % of respondents were not aware of mould
mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT infection in stored maize and groundnuts. The female score higher
Abuja based on gender mean (1.7273 ± 0. 45055) on awareness of mould infections than
there than males counterpart (1.5714 ± 13.7) [14].
Std. df t-test Prob Decision
variablesN Mean Dev SEM The result of the hypothesis one indicated there is no significance in
knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT
variablesmale 1624.9691.63464 .049863480.84590.464accepted
Abuja. This is related to study conducted in Zimbawe by Nyanga
female 1885.0266.63274 .04615 and Ambali, (2017) [15]. The researchers investigated investigate
the effect of hermetic storage technology in reduction of mycotoxins
A t-test presented that there is no significant difference in contamination of maize grain and hence, the result showed that
knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT when knowledge, attitude and practice of small farmers were
Abuja based on gender. Therefore the null hypothesis was retained, assessed on moulds, 33% of the farmers lamented of presence of
meaning that there is no significant difference in knowledge of moulds in stored maize. In relation to gender, both male and female
mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja based on members of the same households or member of the same family
gender. collaborate together during the process of pre and post-harvest
period–this is true as 52% of participants disclosed that both males
and females members of the households take part in drying the
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maize. This same same study was

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

also supported through the gender midpoint survey which indicated man and animal feed on. It was then concluded that traders in the
that 7% increase in cooperation between spouses. The use of modern selected Abuja
technology hermetic provide a great advantage in the sense that it
reduces labour and resources for management, but its downsides is
that it increases workload in processing of maize for storage. It also
reduce women’s workload generally as there is no sharing of tasks
like shelling and loading of grain after the use of hermetic
technology.

The test of the hypothesis two showed that there is no significant

difference in knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among
traders in FCT Abuja based on gender. This is similar to other
previous studies within Nigeria and beyond [16, 17]. The authors
explained that the knowledge and practice during pre- and post-
harvest crop management for reducing mycotoxins were not
adequate among the respondents at the baseline but somehow better
after the training, and the awareness study showed that greater
percentage of the respondents revealed (98%) were not aware of
mycotoxin contamination, and their education and gender level
partially related to their level of awareness (p < 0.01, r = 0.308).
That is participants with higher qualification had more awareness
than their counterpart with lower education qualification, while
females had better awareness than males. Furthermore, the result of
our study agreed with one conducted by Sulaiman, Chang
Jamaluddin, and Sabran, (2020), as there findings showed that age
group, ethnicity monthly household and income were significantly
different in knowledge of aflatoxin ( p <0.01) as well as attitude (
p <0.01) and practice ( p
<0.05) towards aflatoxin contamination in food. The logistic
regression analysis confirmed that ethnicity and monthly household
income were the contributing factors to the occurrence aflatoxin (p
<0.01) [18].

Whereas, there was no significant difference in knowledge of

aflatoxin level in terms of gender, marital status, educational level,
and monthly personal income.

Conclusion
The study assessed traders’ knowledge towards prevention of
mycotoxin contamination in market in federal capital territory
Abuja. Mycotoxin is a contaminant which is mostly affected store
cereals and other food products. Ecology, environmental condition
and methods of storage are the main contributor factors that aids the
rapid growth and development of this fungi diseases in food that

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

markets had low knowledge of prevention of mycotoxin in
contamination of food products.

Recommendations
Base on the results of this study, the following recommendations
were made:

1. Education should be given to traders in the selected Abuja

Markets on When to store and how to store so as to prevent
mycotoxin from attacking there food products and this will assist
them in selecting high quality foods
2. Traders need to acquire adequate knowledge about mycotoxin
contaminants so to improve their attitude and practices towards
prevention of mycotoxin in food [19, 20].

References

1. Misihairabgwi J, Ezekiel C, Sulyok M, Shephard G, Krska R

(2017) Mycotoxin contamination of foods in Southern
Africa: A 10-year review (2007–2016). Crit. Rev. Food Sci.
Nutr 1-16.
2. Udomkun P, Wiredu AN, Nagle M, Bandyopadhyay R,
Müller J, et al. (2017) Mycotoxins in sub-Saharan Africa:
Present situation, socio-economic impact, awareness, and
outlook. Food Control 72: 110-122.
3. Guchi E (2015) Implication of aflatoxin contamination in
agricultural products. Am. J. Food Nutr 3: 12-20.
4. Eskola M, Kos G, Elliott CT, Hajšlová J, Mayar S, et al.
(2020) Worldwide contamination of food-crops with
mycotoxins: Validity of the widely cited ‘FAO estimate’ of
25%. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr 60: 2773-2789.
5. Degen GH (2017) Mycotoxins in food: Occurrence,
importance and health risk. Bundesgesundheitsblatt
Gesundh. Gesundheitsschutz 60: 745-756.
6. Shephard GS (2008) Impact of mycotoxins on human health
in developing countries. Food Addit & Contam: Part A 25:
146- 151.
7. Khlangwiset P, Shephard GS, Wu F (2011) Aflatoxins and
growth impairment: A review. Crit Rev Toxicol 41: 740-755.
8. Abdallah MF, De Boevre M, Audenaert K, et al. (2018)
Highlight report: Mycotoxins as food contaminants in Africa
—challenges and perspectives. Arch Toxicol 92: 2151-2152.
9. Sun G, Chen (2003) Fumonisin B1 contamination of home-
grown corn in high risk areas for esophageal and liver cancer

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 China. Food Addit & Contam 24: 181-118
10. Ego AO, Ogochukwu SU, Ugochukwu E, Ukonze J (2013) Pig
Farmers Knowledge of the Prevalence of Mycotoxin in
Feedstuffs : A Case Study of Pig Farms in Nsukka Agricultural
Zone of Enugu State - Nigeria.
11. Check J, Schutt RK (2012) Survey research. In: J. Check, R. K.
Schutt., editors. Research methods in education. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 159-185.
12. Dillman DA, Smyth JD, Christian LM (2014) Internet, phone,
mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
13. IItyo IY, Nyinoh IW, Kukwa RE, Okoh ME (2021) Evaluation
of Raw Groundnuts from Makurdi Markets in Nigeria for
Aflatoxin B1European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety 13:
102-112.
14. Magembe KS, Mwatawala MW, Mamiro DP, Chingonikaya EE
(2016) Assessment of awareness of mycotoxins infections in
stored maize (Zea mays L.) and groundnut (arachis hypogea L.)
in Kilosa District, Tanzania International Journal of Food
Contamination
15. Nyanga KL, Ambali PC (2017) Postharvest management
technologies for reducing aflatoxin contamination in maize
grain and exposure to humans in Zimbabwe.
16. Adekoya I, Njobeh P, Obadina A, Chilaka C, Okoth, S, et al.
(2017) Awareness and Prevalence of Mycotoxin Contamination
in Selected Nigerian Fermented Foods.
17. Anitha, S, Tsusaka TW, Njoroge SM, Kumwenda N, Lizzie
Kachulu, et al. (2019) Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of
Malawian Farmers on Pre- and Post-Harvest Crop Management
to Mitigate Aflatoxin Contamination in Groundnut, Maize and
Sorghum—Implication for Behavioral Change.
18. Siti Husna Sulaiman HS, Chang LW, Jamaluddin R, Sabran RM
(2020) Attitude and Practice Towards Aflatoxin Contamination
in Food and Sociodemographic Factors Contributed Toward
Urinary AFM1 Occurrence Among Residents in Hulu Langat,
Selangor, Malaysia.
19. Choi JS, Yang NY (2010) Perceived knowledge, attitude, and
compliance with preventive behavior on influenza A (H1N1) by
university students. J. Korean Acad. Adult Nurs 22: 250-259.
*Copyright: ©2022 Abdulsalam Abdullah. This is an open- access article d
20. Solfrizzo M, Gambacorta L, Visconti A (2014) Assessment of
multi-mycotoxin exposure in Southern Italy by urinary multi-
biomarker determination. Toxins 6: 523-538.

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2

 Literatatur review
Penulis Jurnal Abdulsalam Abdullah
Judul Jurnal Assessment of Traders’ Knowledge on Prevention of Mycotoxin
Contamination in Markets in Federal Capital Territorial, Abuja
Rumusan Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites produced by the toxigenic
Masalah strains of the fungi, and these compounds contaminate various food
substances and agricultural crops. A recent study conducted by stated that
over 25% of world food crop production is affected by mycotoxins
contaminant. In a study survey conducted in Spain, Italy, Marocco and
Tunisia by Solfrizzo, Gambacorta and Visconti, 2014among 265 samples
of cereal-based products commercialized, it was revealed that 14% of the
product samples were contained at least two mycotoxins and 18% of the
cereal-based products samples were contained more than two mycotoxins
consecutively. Throughout Africa, and especially in Malawi, maize is a
staple crop that makes up the majority of peoples’ diet and is susceptible
to contamination with mycotoxins secondary metabolites produced by
microfungi that are capable of causing disease and death in humans and
other animals. Exposure to mycotoxin, has been linked to stunting and is
a known hepatic carcinogen. Globally, experts are calling for greater
attention to mycotoxins, including social science research to understand
the complexity of factors contributing to risk and agricultural practices
Hipotesis Ho1: There is no significance in knowledge of mycotoxins contamination
among traders in FCT Abuja
Ho2: There is no significant difference in knowledge of mycotoxins
contamination among traders in FCT Abuja based on gender
Tinjauan In a study survey conducted in Spain, Italy, Marocco and Tunisia by
Literatur Solfrizzo, Gambacorta and Visconti, 2014among 265 samples of cereal-
based products commercialized, it was revealed that 14% of the product
samples were contained at least two mycotoxins and 18% of the cereal-
based products samples were contained more than two mycotoxins
consecutively.
In a study conducted in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the results showed
that 95% of the farmers have sufficient knowledge that both man and
animals are vulnerable to mycotoxin contaminated feed-stuffs, while 5%
neither agree nor disagree with animal vulnerability to mold infested
feed-stuffs
Kerangka Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites produced by the toxigenic
Teori/konseptua strains of the fungi, and these compounds contaminate various food
n substances and agricultural crops. Mycotoxins are very stable, and their
contamination in agricultural commodities can be pre-harvest, during
harvest, and post-harvest, resulting in the classification of the mycotoxin-
producing fungi as field and storage fungi. ood safety is an integral part
of food security among traders and a pressing global problem. The
development of sustainable agriculture must entail efforts to support
nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs where food safety is addressed
alongside food security.
Novelty In a study conducted in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the results showed
that 95% of the farmers have sufficient knowledge that both man and
animals are vulnerable to mycotoxin contaminated feed-stuffs, while 5%
neither agree nor disagree with animal vulnerability to mold infested
feed-stuffs. It is against this background this study was conducted to
assess traders’ knowledge towards prevention of mycotoxin
Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2
 contamination in market in federal capital territory Abuja.
Metode Survey research is the collection of information from a sample of
individuals through their responses to questions. This type of research
allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants, collect data, and
utilize various methods of instrumentation. The instrument used for the
study was researcher’s developed questionnaire, named knowledge of
traders towards prevention of mycotoxins contamination among in FCT
Abuja, Nigeria. To establish content and face validities of the instrument,
a draft of the self designed questionnaire was presented to psycho-metrics
who examined it and offered corrections that were incorporated. The
corrected version was given to experts in experts in Public Health. The
reliability of the research instrument was ascertained through a pilot study
called split-half, using cronbach’s alpha model of measuring reliability.
One of the market will be used to conduct a pilot study, outside those
used for the main study within the zone.
The population for this study comprises all traders’ in major market in
Abuja, which includes Wuse market, Garki international market, Utako
ultra modern market, Kado fish market, Karmo market, Gudu market, and
Maitama farmers’ market, the estimated population for this study is ten
thousand and seventy three (10,073). The sampling procedure was as
follows accidental sampling procedure was used to assign or distribute
copies of questionnaire to respondents in Wuse market, Garki
international market, Utako ultramodern market, Kado fish market,
Karmo market, Gudu market, and Maitama farmers’ market. Descriptive
statistics of frequency counts and percentage was used to describe the
demographic characteristics and to point out respondents’ opinion on
research questions formulated while inferential statistics of chi-square
and independent t-test was used to test all the formulated null hypotheses
at 0.05 alpha level. All the tested hypotheses were accepted at 0.05 alpha
level.
Hasil Analisis Table 4.5 indicates there is no significance in knowledge of mycotoxins
contamination among traders in FCT Abuja. Responses from the
questionnaire on the tested chi-square (X2) calculated is 2.571 which is
less than the table value of 3.841 at 0.05 level of significant, therefore the
null hypothesis was accepted. This indicates there is no significance in
knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja.

A t-test presented that there is no significant difference in knowledge of

Pembahasan
Nursing and Health Care Researchers
mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja based on gender.
Therefore the null hypothesis was retained, meaning that there is no
significant difference in knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among
traders in FCT Abuja based on gender.
This study assessed traders’ knowledge towards prevention of mycotoxin
contamination in market in federal capital territory Abuja. Traders in FCT
Abuja markets (Wuse market, Garki international market, Utako
ultramodern market, Kado fish market, Karmo market, Gudu market, and
Maitama farmers’ market Abuja Markets Management Limited, 2005)
have poor knowledge of prevention of mycotoxin contamination. This
can be seen as only 50 (14.2%) of the traders have enough information
about mycotoxins in food, but 316 (90.2%) do not have enough
information of mycotoxins. Also, Eighty 80 (22.8%) of the respondents
can identify suspected mycotoxins contamination on food, food products
or in the environment, while 270 (77.1%) of them cannot. The result of
the hypothesis one indicated there is no significance in knowledge of
volume 1/Issue 2
 mycotoxins contamination among traders in FCT Abuja. This is related to
study conducted in Zimbawe by Nyanga and Ambali, (2017). The
researchers investigated investigate the effect of hermetic storage
technology in reduction of mycotoxins contamination of maize grain and
hence, the result showed that when knowledge, attitude and practice of
small farmers were assessed on moulds, 33% of the farmers lamented of
presence of moulds in stored maize. In relation to gender, both male and
female members of the same households or member of the same family
collaborate together during the process of pre and post-harvest period–
this is true as 52% of participants disclosed that both males and females
members of the households take part in drying the maize.
The test of the hypothesis two showed that there is no significant
difference in knowledge of mycotoxins contamination among traders in
FCT Abuja based on gender. This is similar to other previous studies
within Nigeria and beyond [16, 17]. The authors explained that the
knowledge and practice during pre- and post-harvest crop management
for reducing mycotoxins were not adequate among the respondents at the
baseline but somehow better after the training, and the awareness study
showed that greater percentage of the respondents revealed (98%) were
not aware of mycotoxin contamination, and their education and gender
level partially related to their level of awareness (p < 0.01, r = 0.308).
That is participants with higher qualification had more awareness than
their counterpart with lower education qualification, while females had
better awareness than males.

Nursing and Health Care Researchers volume 1/Issue 2