The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday launched National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS), a comprehensive animal information management system that will utilise forgery-proof ear tags and cattle passports combined with digital technology to identify and track livestock.
The development which is part of the ongoing National Livestock Transformation Plan NLTP) will be implemented in all 36 states and the FCT.
At the launch in Abuja, minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar said successful implementation of the system will support livestock owners to identify their animals, curb livestock rustling, facilitate interventions in the livestock sector.
According to him, the system will also support the provision of credit and insurance, livestock movement control, animal recording for genetic improvement and research, ease of traceability, surveillance, animal disease control and enable trade among others.
He said, “As you are all aware, technology advancements have rapidly enhanced productivity across all sectors of our economy, the progress made so far to actualise animal identification and traceability in Nigeria as well as other innovations in agriculture have been largely driven by digital transformation which has produced exponential results.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) under the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) initiated the NAITS project as one of the strategies to address the socio-economic and security challenges bedevilling the livestock sector and dearth of data for proper planning among others”.
