Animal identification to 
help breeders, consumers

ABU DHABI - In an effort to achieve sustainable livestock development in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, over half a million livestock have, so far, been registered with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority’s Animal Identification and Registration System (AIR).

By Anwar Ahmad

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Published: Wed 22 Dec 2010, 12:03 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 1:57 PM

According to the records of the ADFCA, around 528,485 livestock were registered with the new AIR system.

The emirate of Abu Dhabi alone constitutes 80 per cent of the total UAE livestock.

AIR is aimed at having an effective follow up and evaluation reporting about traceability of animal diseases, eradication programmes and traceability of food production.

It would guarantee that veterinary services would be able to identify infected animals and trace and account for the movement of each animal in case of an outbreak.

AIR field phase, which started on October 12, will end by February 2011, while the ending of project activities is planned for August 12, 2012.

Under the ongoing project, it is intended that all imported and exported livestock in the emirate have to be tagged.

As per ADFCA statistics, approximately there are of 2.3 million goats and sheep, 378,000 camels and 43,000 cows in Abu Dhabi.

Till December 19, 58 operative field teams of ADFCA visiting 6,238 farms in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Western Region, executed registration and identification of 465,821 sheep and goats; 15,743 cattle and 46,921 camels.

This was revealed during a roundtable meeting with Khalifa Ahmed Khalfan Al Ali, executive director, strategic planning and performance management of ADFCA and Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, spokesperson of ADFCA on Monday

During the meeting, ADFCA officials spoke at length on plans of ADFCA for achieving sustainability in the animal wealth sector in the emirate.

The programme consists of identifying sheep, goats more than one month old and any cattle more than two weeks old, and piercing a ear tag on their right ear. A microchip (2mmX0.2mm) will be implanted on the left side of the neck of any camel more than two weeks old.

AIR is free of charge and does not affect the animal’s health, productivity and performances. Each tag has a code which is read by an electronic reader and contains the country of origin and serial number.

AIR activities will be completed in the Abu Dhabi region by January 15 and Al Ain by February 15.

In the Western Region, the activities will begin by the end of December and end by February 15.AIR is a compulsory programme (Regulation no 4/2010) funded by Government of Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

We aim to guarantee consumers access to safe food products and demonstrate capability to manage efficient and reliable ways for any emergency in the livestock sector with the application of modern veterinary management tools and methodology.

The AIR will help achieve sustainable livestock developments in the emirate which would benefit cattle breeders and consumers.

This will also help obtain social, economic and health benefits, Al Ali said.

anwar@khaleejtimes.com


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