By Ntambo Mabuza
Whether the tool is a cowbell or a microchip, knowing the whereabouts of one’s livestock at any given moment is a business imperative, given the significant investment in raising and breeding animals. Moreover, the ever-present risk of stock theft, the need to control the spread of animal diseases, and concerns over food safety make the location of one’s livestock a matter of importance beyond the boundaries of one’s farm. At the end of 2024, the Red Meat Industry Service (RMIS) launched a digital livestock traceability platform, not only to contribute to finding sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the red meat industry but also to boost productivity and profitability across the entire value chain.
According to RMIS Chief Operations Officer, Dr Phillip Oosthuizen, the Livestock
Traceability Platform aims to provide a single-window view of the entire livestock
value chain. The platform relies on a unique production unit number assigned during registration to map out operations across the red meat industry value chain. This, in turn, integrates with existing record management systems, such as those of communal land farms, commercial farms, auction houses, feedlots, and abattoirs.
“The Production Unit Number will also be used as a location reference for sharing
traceability data between different record-keeping systems that are connected to the RMIS Traceability Platform,” says Dr. Oosthuizen.
However, the Livestock Traceability Platform, like many similar initiatives, hinges on
the active participation of individual producers, as it advocates for registrations
across the entire country.
According to the static map indicating national enrolment, accessed at the time of
writing, 177 “production units” had signed up for the platform. As it is membership-
based, the specific details of what each “production unit” does are not clear to
outsiders. However, analysing its publicly available data provides an indication of
what the Traceability Platform dashboard would look like once successfully
implemented.
The platform would, for example, track and trace the life journey of each of the
nation’s 13.9 million-strong herd of cattle from farm to abattoir to the braai stand.
Importantly, it would also help pinpoint the exact source of unsafe food or determine whether one is consuming illegally obtained meat.
While it is still early days to gauge the full impact of the traceability initiative, it is a
step in the right direction as it encourages the use of technology and leverages data to better understand the red meat value chain. This intervention is particularly crucial in bringing the traditional “mink and manure” livestock sector up to speed with the digital era.
