How Information Communication Technology Can Enhance Evidence-Based Decisions and Farm-to-Fork Animal Traceability for Livestock Farmers

Abstract

Due to changes in the livestock sector and the rise of consumer demand for comprehensive and integrated food security and safety, there has been a concern on the use of farm data in enhancing animal traceability and decision-making by farmers and other decision-makers in the livestock sector. To ensure high production through effective decision-making and auditable standards, producers are required to have better traceability and record systems. Therefore, this study aimed at (1) reviewing the current recording/data management and animal traceability systems used by small-scale farmers in developing countries and (2) analyzing how data management systems should be designed to enhance efficient decision-making and animal traceability from farm to fork. This study found that, still, a majority of small-scale farmers do not keep records leading to poor decision-making on the farm and policymaking. We also found that those who keep records do not store their data in electronic format, which again poses another challenge in data analysis. Moreover, this study found that the majority of traceability tools used by farmers in developing countries do not meet international standards based on tools they use for tracing animals; farmers were reported to use tools like branding and ear tagging, which provide very little information about the animal. Such tools lack the capability to keep track of useful information about an animal, e.g., information about feeding and animal health. In conclusion, this study recommended a better electronic system to be used at the farm level to facilitate data analysis, hence promoting informed decision-making and adherence to the international animal traceability standards. Otherwise, there is a need for researchers to conduct more studies in developing different analytical models for exploring on-farm data in order to improve the decision-making process by farmers and other stakeholders.

Italian Tracing System for Water Buffalo Milk and Processed Milk Products

“…At the end of the project (30 November 2015), the validated system was implemented by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MIPAAF) and the Italian Ministry of Health, which jointly promoted the enactment of specific legislation for the mandatory application of tracing. This online system is now applied nationwide and is managed by the Italian National Reference Centre on Water Buffalo Farming and Production, Hygiene and Technologies (CReNBuf) at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno (IZSM) and Sistema Agricolo Informativo Nazionale (SIAN) of the Ministry of Agriculture cooperative, with contributions from the Agribusiness Quality Department (DQA), which is the current control body of PDO cheese farms [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…In case of failure to transmit the indicated data, the penalties described in the Law decree No.91/2014 of 24 June 2014 are applied [13,14].…”

Livestock Disease Data Management for E-Surveillance and Disease Mapping Using Cluster Analysis

“…As a benefit of Electronic livestock health Records, a study (Mwanga et al, 2020) argued that the availability of quality and sufficiency of data determine the worthiness of your decision. The ELHR improves evidence-based decisions and policymakers and researchers in the area can easily access the data.…”

One Health and a Computational Biology approach

“…Thus, the concept of One Health is positively employed since animals and humans are interdependent, cows need to be healthy to provide humans with raw materials of superior quality standards (Ceballos et al, 2018). As important as ensuring animal health, it is necessary to track products from the farm to the final consumer by maintaining health surveillance of acceptable standards (farm-to-fork concept) (Mwanga et al, 2020).…”