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Livestock Registration & Identification

February 8, 2014 at 7:34 pm | News Desk

Rasheed g

Dr. Muhammad Rasheed

Pakistan, especially Punjab, is an agro-livestock based economy. Livestock & dairy sector is the main segment of agro-economy playing a key role in providing major source of animal protein in the shape of milk, meat and eggs to the consumers. In 2010-11, livestock constituted 11.5 % of the total GDP and accounted for about 55.1% of agricultural value added at the micro level. Punjab province of Pakistan possesses tremendous resources of agriculture & livestock, capable of meeting local and export demand of livestock products. The livestock-based surpluses can be exported with adaptation and implementation of international food safety standards & certification having efficient product traceability system covering Farm to Fork compliance regime. dairy cow

Effective ‘Livestock Registration and Identification System’ is central to manage disease surveillance, reporting, diagnosis, control and ultimate eradication of most fatal diseases in the country.  Such system having animal registration and identification tools for addressing animal health (including zoonoses) and food safety issues is a crucial part of veterinary public health aspects. Effective implementation of the system may significantly improve the effectiveness of activities such as the management of disease outbreaks and food safety incidents, vaccination programs, herd/flock husbandry, zoning/compartmentalization, surveillance, early response and notification systems, animal movement controls, inspection, certification, fair practices in trade and the utilization of veterinary drugs, feed and pesticides at farm level.

As there is a strong relationship between animal identification and the traceability of animals and products of animal origin, so while considering export regime in line with the national and international food safety standards, the animal traceability system is pre-requisite for the export of products from animal origin, linked throughout the animal production and food chain.

The establishment of animal registration and identification system under public entity should lead towards focused activities on productivity enhancement, linkages development for national and international markets by declaring disease free particular area, zone or compartment. This establishment should support in management of livestock emergencies e.g. natural catastrophes or man-made events and also in trade for inspection and certification activities of veterinary services, as desired under international obligations by managing aspects of animal husbandry such as animal performance, breed characteristics, genetic potential and progeny testing data.

Legal Umbrella

Support with legal frame work from relevant governmental agencies in consultation with stakeholders needs implementation and enforcement of Punjab Animal Registration & Identification System (PARIS) in the province. Such system should be under the responsibility of the Veterinary Authority at national as well as at provincial level. The draft of National Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Authority Act, 2012 is under consideration for approval and implementation by the Ministry of Food Security and Research, Government of Pakistan. This draft Bill indicates the establishment of Provincial Animal Health Authorities at provinces to cover Farm to Fork Food Safety & Hygiene compliance for domestic and international trade requirements. The proposed draft bill needs to add section on Animal Registration and Identification System in Pakistan.Dairy

Modus Operandi

Animal identification is always necessary for farmer/owner as well as for the state for further development aspects in the region. In this context, various techniques for placing identifying marks on or within an animal’s body have been developed for effective identification that meets these management needs and requirements ranging from hot/cool branding to Radio Frequency Identification Device/chip.

Ear Tags: In PARIS, the means of registration and identification of animals should be ‘tags’. Presently different tools of identification have been developed and used like neck tags, tail tags and ear tags. The commonest form of external identification currently in use is probably the ear tag.  Ear tagging technology has made significant progress over the last decade and a generation of tamper-resistant and easily readable tags has evolved that would remain in place for the life of the animal. Basic requirements of registration and identification, is to use any device to identify livestock which satisfies three basic criteria i) it must be affordable, ii) durable and iii) clearly readable from a reasonable distance. For that purpose Plastic Ear Tags, using laser-printing techniques for codes, visible from a distance of two meters or more should be used.

Codes:  The codes on the tags should have unique identification numbers, ensuring that two animals in the same identified population do not have the same identification code printed on them. The individual animal identity should hold its province of birth, district, union council, and village, owner of animal or herd with a unique animal number within that herd or ownership.

PB District Tehsil UC Village Owner 0 0 0 1

From Identification to Traceability

The PARIS should identify an animal with ear tag codes to build a traceability system where the animal’s unique identification in combination with movement record should be used to provide traceability. The success of a traceability system is a register of properties/places which may send and receive livestock, and a register of valid livestock identification codes and the users to whom they were issued. The recording of livestock movements between registered holdings should be made mandatory, and there must be means of auditing and enforcement of such movement recorded under prescribed legal bindings for livestock owners. A traceability system should be established having a catalogue of all properties, identification codes and records of animal movements on a computer system (database) to be tracked by Livestock Department or other relevant governmental agency designated for this purpose by the Punjab government.

 

Dr. Muhammad Rasheed is a livestock professional working for value addition in veterinary services as a trainer, facilitator and evaluator. He can be reached at muhammadrasheed2352@gmail.com

 

News Desk

Economic Affairs Editor

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