• Efforts to contain the ongoing foot and mouth disease outbreak in the Eastern Cape could benefit from the usage of the newly introduced LITS system.
• LITS is a system of electronic eartags for animals that can create “a bio of your livestock.”
• The system can be used to significantly reduce the time spent finding the origin of outbreaks.

Ongoing outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in South Africa have spurred the Department of Agriculture to launch a rapid response team to deal with the situation, but the rollout of a digital tracking system earlier this year may be a difference maker as well.

With 26 farms across two municipalities in the Eastern Cape testing positive for the disease affecting cattle, goats and sheep, the launch of the LITS project in the province in May 2024 could see significant benefits for this latest outbreak.

According to a statement from the department and its Minister, John Steenhuisen, the team comprises seven government and industry experts, including Dr Mpho Maja, Dr Shaun Morris, Dr J Strydom, Dr Patricia Froneman, Dr Matlou Rabala, and Dr Gerhard Neethling.

“They will ensure regular communication, assist with guidelines on how affected farmers handle milk, meat, or other produce out of affected areas and rope in agricultural specialists to advise on the economic impact on the affected areas,” the department said in the statement.

Measures currently ongoing include vaccinating animals at farms and quarantining areas where livestock have tested positive for the disease, which also sees produce from the animals contaminated and unsuitable for human consumption, such as cow’s milk.

The department has called for farmers surrounding the affected areas, the so-called Disease Management Area, where farms are placed under quarantine to monitor their livestock and observe biosecurity to avoid spreading the disease.

Over 30 000 cattle in the Eastern Cape were slotted to be tagged with the LITS (Livestock Identification and Traceability System) in May 2024, the province’s agriculture department said at the time. It was the hope of local farmers and government officials that the LITS tracking system – an ear tag that could be tracked digitally – could help prevent the scourge of cattle theft sweeping across the province.

However, according to the Department of Agriculture’s initial 2018 proposal for LITS in South Africa, the digital system can also be used to trace infected animals and curb the spread of diseases like foot and mouth disease.

The LITS eartags collect data from an animal “based on animal’s health, movement and age” which creates “a bio of your livestock, which could be sent directly to the phone, email or via post by request.”

This system can be used to trace the origin of outbreaks, significantly reducing the time between when an outbreak is found and when the epicentre of the outbreak can be identified, to speed up quarantine measures.

Seeing as the establishment of animal disease risk management zones was also a proposition in the LITS proposal, it is likely that farmers and the department are actively making use of LITS identification to halt the spread of infection.

The proposal also includes plans for the development of an electronic data management system to register vaccinated animals linked to the LITS system, so that farmers and officials know when they scan an eartag if the animal is vaccinated already or not.

“The [vaccine management system] will also strengthen the Department’s ability to process, review and report to over government departments and the general public on fertilizers, veterinary medicine, animal feeds and pesticide information,” it reads.

[Image – Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash]