The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) is pushing for a regional livestock tracking system that it hopes will end cattle rustling and boost the trade in beef.

While the eight Igad partner states have been experimenting with various versions of livestock identification and traceability systems (LITs) over the past three years, the Secretariat is pushing for a regional system that it says will boost exports.

“The lack of an appropriate livestock identification and traceability system is the reason the Horn of Africa has the lowest share of the world beef trade despite it having large numbers of livestock,” said Solomon Munyua, acting director of the Igad Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development.

According to statistics, the Igad countries — Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea — have nearly 100 million cattle and more than 170 million sheep and goats combined.

The exact figures are, however, unavailable because of the continuous movement of people across the border and regional conflicts that lead to displacement of communities.

The LITs are also expected to facilitate disease surveillance, improve access to markets and monitor the productivity of herds in the commercial production system.

The Igad countries are experimenting with different LITs based on their unique requirements, challenges and specific production systems.

Kenya, for example, is experimenting with the electronic radio frequency identification device (RFID) bolus, (which has a microchip implant), while Ethiopia and Sudan are using the RFID tag.

But the Igad Secretariat says a single system will boost trade in beef mainly through exports.

The Secretariat’s plan is to seek a legal regime similar to that used in Australia and among European Union countries, which requires that animals be traced at all stages of the value chain.

The major challenge is that RFID equipment is expensive and requires a good country infrastructure to manage. For instance, one bolus costs about $7.

It is expected that a livestock tracking system would also eventually boost the GDP of the countries through improved trade.

Edmealem Shitaye, the Ethiopian national co-ordinator for the Igad Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative, said that the livestock sector in the Igad region is under represented in the GDP estimates, while it could contribute up to 30 per cent.

In Kenya, for example, the livestock sector contributes about 12 per cent of the country’s GDP, and employs 50 per cent of the agricultural labour force.

Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa at 52 million, including 10.5 million dairy cattle. But the country is not exploiting its potential, earning only $79 million from livestock last year.

In Uganda, the livestock sector is one of the important growth sectors, contributing 17 per cent of the agricultural GDP, and is a source of livelihood for about 4.5 million people in the country.

In Sudan, livestock exports contribute about 20 per cent of the national GDP and 50 per cent of the agricultural output. Latest figures show that Sudan earned $333 million from livestock in 2013.

South Sudan, on the other hand, has over 31 million head of cattle, sheep and goats, making it a world-leading nation in animal wealth.  Arid Djibouti imports livestock from neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia. 

Livestock from Somaliland is also exported to the Arabian Peninsula.

The importance of animal identification and traceability in the livestock global market emerged in the mid-1980s after the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in Europe and dioxin contamination in the 1990s. 

Australia was among the first countries to develop a national traceability system in 1996 and in 2002, an electronic RFID was implemented.

In Africa, Namibia has applied RFID, incorporating all animals from the 70,000 communal smallholder producers in the north of the country.

Botswana implemented LITs using the reticular bolus identification device. The system is subsidised by the government.