Internet of Cows: MTN’s livestock tracking device gains traction in Nigeria

By Staff Writer

MTN livestock tracking solution is gaining traction in Nigeria amongst herdsmen as they see the benefits of the technology in monitoring and tracking their cattle.

For herdsmen, time is money, and tracking cattle’s is traditionally a cumbersome task that is difficult.

Enter MTN’s livestock tracking solution that was launched last May in Nigeria, now assisting herdsmen in monitoring and helping with cattle grazing.

Furthermore, the solution was aimed at helping herdsmen to minimise loss of cattle’s and avoid conflict in land use due to the impact of grazing on farmlands.

Thus, MTN introduced in Nigeria an animal identification management system (AIMS) to monitor the location of cattle, send emergency alerts to authorities in cases of distress, and support the creation of grazing areas separate from farmlands through geofencing using solar-powered GPS technology.

“Over 5,000 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards containing owner data have been ordered by veterinarians and owners for injection into livestock,” MTN said in its latest annual report.

MTN believes that IoT solutions such as the RFID can easily be adapted to support living systems.

Cattle grazing has traditionally been passed down the family generations, but technology solutions such as RFID can help herdsmen make it easy to monitor and track their livestock.

Passing a RFID scanner over animals that have been tagged provides immediate data, helping establish ownership, reduce theft risks, and improve the ability of authorities to return recovered animals to their rightful owners.

AIMS also enables verification of animals before the sale and supports veterinarians and inspectors in their efforts to survey and control diseases.

“Initial stakeholder responses have been positive, confirming that AIMS can play an important role in resolving various known livestock issues such as rustling, exportability and traceability,” said MTN in the report.