KOCHI: The Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) has decided to embark on a gigantic mission to geo-tag around 10 lakh cattle and poultry farmers in the state as part of disease and asset mapping of cattle and poultry, which includes rapidly detecting, responding to, and controlling infectious disease threats among cattle and the poultry population, among other things.
Animal Husbandry Director N N Sasi told Express the move is intended to create a digital database of cattle and poultry population in the state using the Geographical Information System (GIS). Once the digital repository is formed, the state government can easily track details of the cattle and poultry population in the state, including the medical history of the cattle and birds and vaccination details, to provide timely medical help in cases of emergency. Further, the government is planing to use the data while drawing up various programmes for the betterment of the animal husbandry sector, including during the time of financial planning, he said.
According to Balachandran, IT officer with the department, moves are also afoot to set up a call centre to connect with the farmers. The experts at the centre can easily provide guidance to the farmers since the
entire history of the cattle and birds will be available at the fingertip once the project is completed. As part of the drive, the livestock inspectors and vets have been collecting the details of livestock reared by the farmers and their varieties, apart from the details of the farmer, their name, address, photo, Aadhaar and mobile number, he said.
The digital repository will also have the photos of the cattle or birds, location of the house and farm and the information of veterinary hospitals nearby. Officers will be able to easily connect and guide the farmers and ensure the welfare programmes chalked out for the sector reach the needy.The department has already distributed 1,240 tablets for the field officers to fast-track the work and 2,500 more tables will be made available soon to complete the exercise before the next national-level Livestock ensus, which will be undertaken this year.The state has around 13 lakh bovines and the 19th Livestock Census in 2012 put the total livestock population at 27.35 lakh.