Why Kenya should adopt Electronic Identification System for livestock to curbs cattle rustling

Every year, hundreds of people lose their lives to cattle rustling in Northern Kenya. Two years ago, over 40 police officers on a mission to recover stolen cattle, were killed in Baragoi- Samburu County.

Kenya is now learning from Botswana on how to significantly reduce rustling by making it easier to track down stolen animals.

Using modern technology, Botswana has successfully reduced incidences of cattle rustling that once threatened the country’s lucrative EU beef export market by at least 60%, through a project dubbed Livestock Identification and Trace-Back System (LITS).

Implemented by a number of governmental agencies including the Department of Animal Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Practical Action EA, the project involves installing a digitized Identification system on livestock.

The system uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) -an effective, safe, environment friendly and tamperproof technology, to identify individual livestock across the country. How does it work? Simple- Livestock scientists in Botswana create something they call Reticular bolus, in which they fit a RFID microchip, coated with indigestible ceramic.

According to scientists, a reticular bolus does not need a battery, it’s safe and does not react with stomach acids and enzymes, once swallowed by animals.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  CBC crisis: Books, funds and classrooms cloud Grade Nine shift
• 
  Russia 'guilty' over downed Azerbaijan plane: Azeri president
• 
  Karua granted temporary certificate to represent Besigye
• 
  Let's declare 2025 the year of national detoxification

“The bolus is technically superior to other microchips which are difficult to read and recover after slaughter and face a ban by the European Union as they can easily find their way into the meat,” observed Dr MoetapeleLetshwenyo, Deputy Director, Department of Animal Health, Botswana.

Once ingested, the Reticular Bolus makes it possible to track down the animal, even to a slaughter house. The system is a complete departure from traditional branding and ear tagging.

“Initially, farmers could fight over the ownership of stolen and recovered cattle. But with the introduction of digital ID for cattle, the Police with the help of Field Extension officers have recovered thousands of stolen livestock and identified their rightful owners,” says Mr Ponatshego Kedikilwe, the LITS project coordinator.

So effective is this technology that, according to Mr Kedikilwe, it has helped resolve potentially violent animal ownership rows between farmers and communities.

“We have had incidences where two farmers dispute the ownership of a cow only for the Police to find out that none of them is the real owner of the cow,” says Kedikilwe.

To further strengthen the use of technology in curbing rustling, the government of Botswana has enacted a law compelling all cattle owners install digitalised identification on their livestock.

The law goes further to criminalise slaughtering or trading in livestock that do not have electronic identification mark, effectively ensuring that stolen animals do not find their way into slaughter houses, as they do in Kenya.

After struggling for decades with cases of cattle rustling, Kenya is looking to borrow a leaf from Botswana. The Practical Action EA, is currently testing the use of computer chips (the bolus type) to trace and identify livestock in Northern Kenya, especially in Mandera.

The project involves designing a database that is capable of identifying livestock, its owner, location, movement permits and vaccination records. Practical Action EA intends to integrate the bolus system with satellite tracking technology, using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) in the next trial phase.

Once fully implemented, digital livestock identification system will open up access to important livestock markets such as EU that has eluded Kenya for a very long time.

EU market regulation stipulate that all imported beef must be have traceable sources through out the its processing to its packaging.