Tracking technology fails to shield livestock farmers from cattle raiders

Mr Jacob M’Mwitari, a livestock farmer from Athanja Village in Tigania East, Meru County lost 47 cattle to raiders a year ago, never to recover them.

In one of his tracking missions with police in Wamba, Samburu, Mr M’Mwitari says he identified some of his lost cattle from hot iron brand marks but he could not take them.

For a farmer like M’Mwitari who has waited patiently to make money from his stock, cattle rustling is a big blow, yet justice is always elusive.

“I have recovered six cows only. It hurts so much because livestock is our livelihood.

"What will befall us if the government continues to neglect us like this?” Mr M’Mwitari poses in desperation.

He says 10 among the stolen animals had been installed with digital tracing devices by veterinary officers to help in identification in case of theft.

Cattle rustling has claimed hundreds of lives besides leading to loss of thousands of livestock in the recent past among pastoral communities.

Seven people have been killed and more than 400 cattle and goats stolen in cattle rustling incidents along the Meru-Isiolo border in the last one month.

PILOT PROJECT

A pilot project dubbed Electronic Livestock Identification and Traceability System (ELITS) initiated by the Directorate of Veterinary Services in 2011 was expected to tame cattle rustling.

The technology, borrowed from Botswana is a digital animal identification system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchip inserted in a cow’s reticulum.

The rumen bolus that the animal swallows contains a RFID microchip and is coated with a hard ceramic to protect it from digestive juices.

ELITS is touted as the solution for cattle theft as it eases animal identification compared to hot iron branding and ear notching.

The microchip contains the farmer’s bio-data. The code on the bolus can be detected by a reader at close range.

In case of theft, a farmer is required to report to the central data unit through the anti-stock theft unit and the code is blacklisted as a search begins.

According to the Meru County Director of Veterinary Services Lawrence Mwongela, more than 8,000 cattle were fed with the reticular boluses under the pilot project.

DIGITAL IDENTIFICATION

“The digital identification boluses were meant for animals in cattle rustling prone areas.

“8,177 cattle were digitally branded in Igembe North, Igembe South and Tigania East.

“The digital information was fed into mobile devices and sent to a central server in Nairobi,” Mr Mwongela says.

He says chiefs were also given records of livestock in their areas to enable tracing in case of theft.

“The programme is very viable for pastoral communities but it was never concluded.

“There is need for the government to allocate resources to revive the project. It can help tame cattle theft,” he adds.

Mr Mwongela explains that a more advanced rumen bolus tracker that uses radio receivers has the potential to track an animal within a 40 kilometres radius.

“We have been collecting the rumen boluses from farmers awaiting further direction. The devices are to be reused in other animals once an animal bearing the bolus dies,” he says.

NO FOLLOW UP BY GOVT

Mr Charles Kamwibua, a former chairman of the Meru North Herders Association and a beneficiary of the technology says that since his cattle were installed with the rumen boluses, no follow up has ever been done on the technology.

“We were confident that our animals could not disappear without trace. The technology was also to ease tracking of stolen cattle through installation of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) systems.

“We have retrieved most of the boluses after slaughtering animals but we have nowhere to take them,” he says.

Mr Kamwibua says the rumen bolus readers were to be used by security officers during cattle recovery missions.

Meru North herders chairman John Ntiritimi says that since the government rolled out the project, no attempt has been made to use it in tracking stolen animals.

“When the technology was introduced, cattle rustlers stayed away for a time before they realised it was not working. Stealing of livestock resumed with intensity,” Mr Ntirimiti laments.

TECHNOLOGY ABANDONED

Having abandoned the technology, the government now banks on community declarations that outline how to contain cattle rustling.

The Modogashe declaration gave stringent penalties where one stolen cow was to be compensated with three camels while the death of a person was to be recompensed with 100 camels.

In January, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaiserry and elected leaders from cattle rustling-prone areas came up with firm resolutions dubbed the Boma Declaration that recommended tracking of stolen animals by use of footmarks.

The meeting brought together leaders from Turkana, West Pokot, Baringo, Samburu, Isiolo, Laikipia and Marsabit counties.

“One of the key resolutions was that communities in whose area footmarks of stolen livestock end up in, will be held responsible and an equivalent number of livestock be recovered by security agencies to compensate victims of cattle rustling,” Mr Nkaissery said.

“Security personnel will track the cattle by observing footprints. The community will have to pay for the cattle that were stolen and driven into their land,” he added.

FOOTMARKS MISLEADING

Mr Ntiritimi notes that using footmarks is misleading due to the high number of livestock in affected areas.

“Cattle rustlers are aware of this declaration. When they steal livestock in Isiolo, they drive them into Meru to mislead those following the footmarks.

“We waste a lot of time following footmarks leading to loss of animals. Why did the government spend resources and time on a technology that was not useful?” he poses.

The herders are calling on the government to shed light on why the project was abandoned before it was fully implemented.

Igembe North MP Joseph M’Eruaki laments that justice is hardly done for the victims of cattle rustling.

“The government should impose hefty penalties on cattle rustlers to tame the vice.

“The continued justification of crime in the name of culture must be stopped,” Mr M’Eruaki says.

He calls on the government to introduce proper cattle tracking systems to end the vice.

Marginalisation of the arid and semi-arid areas, that are home to about 60 per cent of Kenya’s livestock population, has been blamed for lack of a lasting solution to challenges facing the pastoralists.