Background

Livestock Identification and Traceability Systems (LITS) are essential for identifying and tracking animals.  LITS enable monitoring of the production processes and performance of the animals, and are essential to successfully contain or respond to outbreaks of infectious animal diseases. Animal identification and traceability systems are gaining worldwide attention for their provision of credible information and customer confidence in countries that import animals and animal products.

Kenya’s LITS was developed for the Kenya Commercial Bank Foundation and Kenya Veterinary Association for roll out as the LITS system for the State Department of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives of Kenya.

The Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) was the lead department for the Kenyan livestock industry during the development and implementation of this innovative LITS that incorporates the latest in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, and mobile data collection and data visualization technologies. RippleNami Inc., as the technology provider, developed the system following a protracted and interactive process involving technical officers from DVS, Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA) and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) – Foundation – Mifugo ni Mali program.

The LITS technology solution was customized to the specific needs of the African scenario. It ensures that livestock can be individually identified and easily traced throughout their lives from birth (or importation), through the marketing value chain to its slaughter and processing location, accurately reporting genealogy, medication and veterinary history and quality of every animal. It also includes animal disease surveillance capabilities and animal rustling monitoring and movement tracking. Our technology is compliant to ISO 11784, ISO 11785 and ICAR standards, and fulfills international trade requirements.

The Technology

Kenya’s LITS is made up of the following components

  1. rCAPTURE Mobile Application

rCAPTURE

This tutorial will walk you through the rCAPTURE application that feeds data into Kenya’s LITS.

rCAPTURE is available for Andriod mobile or tablet devices or as a Windows PC application. You must be registered as an app user in order to log into the rCAPTURE Data Collector app. The applications can be accessed here:

 

 

 

rCAPTURE supports a multitude of data types including GPS location capture, photo capture, RFID capture, and more. Data can be captured in on-line or off-line mode. Off-line data is synced to the central database when network access is available.

Key Benefits

  • Real-time data upload from an unlimited number of users
  • Offline data collection (out of service, no Wi-Fi)
  • Automatic synchronization of off-line data to a central database, eliminating manual download/upload of files to a computer
  • Ensures accurate data capture and eliminates redundancy
  • GPS-based location information on a map (even offline!)
  • Powerful smart logic; with specific events that can trigger automated notifications to targeted users

How it works:

 

1. Read the electronic identification (EID) number of your livestock using Bluetooth enabled RFID reader, or enter the number manually.
2. Using the rCAPTURE mobile application, users can input new information about your animals, even when off-line.
3. Using cellular or WiFi connection, information flows in real-time to the LITS database, where the geolocation and complete history of the animals can be viewed.

 

This tutorial will walk you through the rCAPTURE application that feeds data into Kenya’s LITS.

Before You Begin

Before you begin collecting data with rCAPTURE, it is important to log in to the app on your device for the first time while cellular or Wi-Fi connection is available. This ensures you will have the latest forms that have been allocated to you, and that you can download the necessary lookup data for the forms to work. Subsequent logins on the app will work even if off-line, and you can collect data off-line as well. You will need a connection to sync your data to the central database.

Scan and Update Cattle

You are able to record the following updates to registered Cattle:

  • Health Inspection
  • Vaccination/Treatment
  • Infectious and Notifiable Disease
  • Change of Ownership
  • Lost/Found
  • Movement
  • Termination
  • Postmortem Inspection

Each form will begin with recording the GPS location at the time of the event, based on your device’s location, so that it can be mapped. (This field is optional if a user is making the update remotely on a Windows device on a PC, and is not near the animal at the time).

Health Inspection

Health inspections are performed on animals individually. The Health Inspection form allows you to perform the following functions:

  • Update the animal’s photo
  • Record the animal’s current weight
  • Record the animal’s current Condition Score
  • Estimate the animal’s current age
  • Estimate the animal’s current value
  • Notes

When to use it?

Weight, condition score, year of birth and animal photo are all omitted if the animal was registered as part of a group registration. The Health Inspection form allows you to update this missing data for an individual animal. It also allows you to track an animal’s weight and condition score over time. The animal’s progress is displayed visually as a line graph in the Animal Health and History report in the LITS desktop application.

The Health Inspection form is useful for evaluating an animal for insurance purposes, or for loans. It is also useful for showing a health inspection was performed as an animal was released from quarantine, which can help to demonstrate you are adhering to strict export requirements, or when there are heightened controls in place due to an event such as a disease outbreak.

Vaccination/Treatment

You are able to record your vaccination/treatment against an individual animal, or against a group of animals at once within a single form. The form allows you to record the following information:

  • The disease/condition you are vaccinating for/treating against
  • Type of medication type being administered (selected from a picklist)
  • Dosage
  • Medication Batch Number
  • Withdrawal Period (the period of time that must pass between the last treatment and when the animal will be slaughtered or milk used for human consumption)
  • The email address of who administered the medication (it will default to the user logged into the device, but this can be edited)
  • Notes

When to use it?

The Vaccination/Treatment form is used when administering treatments or vaccines to prevent infectious or notifiable diseases. Livestock vaccination and preventative treatments provide significant net income benefits from a reduction in livestock mortality, increased milk production, and savings by reducing reactive treatments. If you are treating an active illness, you should use the Infectious or Notifiable Disease form instead.

Infectious and Notifiable Disease 

The Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) maintains a list of notifiable diseases, which are presented as a drop-down list within this form.

You are able to report a notifiable disease against an individual animal, or against a group of animals at once within a single form. The form allows you to record:

  • The date and time the examination took place
  • The presenting symptoms (selected from a pick-list)
  • The disease diagnosis (selected from a drop-down list)
  • If the diagnosis is suspected or has been confirmed by a blood test
  • Type of medication type being administered (selected from a picklist)
  • Dosage
  • Medication Batch Number
  • Withdrawal Period (the period of time that must pass between the last treatment and when the animal will be slaughtered or milk used for human consumption).
  • The email address of who administered the medication (it will default to the user logged into the device, but this can be edited)
  • Notes

When to use it?

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), a notifiable disease is a disease listed by the veterinary authority (DVS) that should, as soon as detected or suspected, be brought to the attention of this Authority in accordance with national regulations (Animal Diseases Act). Submitting this form will automatically generate an email to infodvs@kilimo.go.ke to fulfill this requirement.

As such, use this form when treating or reporting a notifiable disease, even if the animal has died. In the case of death, a termination form will also need to be completed seperately to change the status of the animal from ‘alive’ to ‘dead’.

Change of Ownership

The Change of Ownership form will change the livestock owner from one person or business entity to another within LITS. This change can be made against an individual animal, or against a group of animals at once within a single form. With this form you will record:

  • The new owner (select from the list of already registered owners, or register a new owner)
  • Transfer date
  • The reason for the transfer of ownership (dropdown list)
  • Sale Price (if the aforementioned transfer reason is ‘sold’)
  • A photo of the supporting documentation in relation to the transfer
  • Notes

When to use it?

Change of Ownership form should be completed whenever livestock ownership has changed for whatever reason, including dowry, gift, inheritance, or when the animal is sold. The form will only update the livestock owner within LITS; if the premises that the animal will reside on has also changed, a Movement form will need to be completed separately.

Lost/Found

The Lost/Found form is used when an animal is being reported as lost (to include the reporting of wandering animals) or when the animal has been found and returned to its owner.  This change can be made against an individual animal, or against a group of animals at once within a single form.

When to use it?

This form will change an animal’s status within LITS to LOST if it is being reported as such, or it will change it back from LOST to Alive. This is a useful deterrent to livestock theft and rustling, as it can prompt an investigation if an animal with the status of LOST is attempted to be sold.