Botswana has changed its livestock identification and trace-back system (LITS) from using reticular bolus with radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchips to a digital ear-tag system.

The new system, which has been introduced six months after the proposed date, is planned to improve traceability of livestock across the country.

The pilot insertion of the electronic ear-tag initiative kicked off in Ramotswa, Botswana’s South East South district this month. Officials estimate that approximately 30,000 cattle have been tracked thus far.

Meanwhile, Botswana’s agriculture minister Christian De Graaff said the success of the livestock industry depends on effective and efficient animal identification and trace-back system.

“It is therefore benefitting that we switch over from bolus to ear-tag to enhance our traceability system,” De Graaff said.

Botswana’s decision to shift from reticular bolus to digital ear-tag system was reached after an audit by World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in 2011 that raised the non-visibility of the bolus identification system.

“My ministry had to change its strategy. In this regard, a change over from bolus to ear-tag,”de Graaff said highlighting that internal and external review was done prior to reaching the decision.

Introduced in 2001 the bolus traceability and identification system has been dogged by technical problems such as freezing of the PCs screen, failure of the equipment to communicate with the readers, battery failure, and bolus showing details of the previous owners, all resulting in 90 percent of cattle movement permits manually issued due to equipment failure.

The ear-tag technology is expected to enable Botswana’s department of veterinary services to trace and individually identify livestock in any district.

In addition, the tech helps to identify a livestock, its owner, district, movement permits, and vaccination records among a handful of other useful data to also minimise cattle rustling.

Botswana also depends on effective animal identification and trace-back system to access lucrative beef export markets in the European Union (EU) that demand identification and trace-back to ensure food safety.