03 Feb 2020

Director of Digiwork, Mr Lucky Molato says the company’s animal management and tracking system will help reduce cattle theft and road accidents involving cattle in Botswana.

Mr Molato said this recently when briefing residents of Maun about the product.

He said  the Digiwork Software offered a 24/7 real time animal management system and farmers could detect some of the circumstances affecting their livestock using either a laptop, tablet or smart phone.

“We also went to China to benchmark from a certain company on how the platform works and soon we will be teaching the public how to operate it using their mobile phones and other devices,” he said.  

Mr Molato also said that the ear tag tracking system would enable farmers to locate their livestock and once the animal is by anyone other than the owner, a notification would be sent to the owner’s mobile phone.

“Our tracking system also enables farmers to control the movement of their cattle from the grazing areas.

Once an animal moves to a red zone or areas affected by Foot and Mouth Disease, the system will detect,” said Mr Molato.

He indicated that there was an Ultrasonic High Performance Animal Repeller; a system that distracts animals from getting into the fields to eat crops by making a huge sound that will irritate and make it run away.

Mr Molato said the aim was to work with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security to get permission to sell their products through the Department of Veterinary Services. He said the purpose of the briefing was to consult the society about their services and get feedback.

When acknowledging Digiwork for the effort, Kgosi Rodgers Marumo of Thito Ward said the initiative would help prevent animal theft, which was a great concern in the region and the country at large.

Kgosi Marumo also urged the company to be patient when assisting old people, since they were not familiar with technology, while encouraging the farmers to utilise the platform as it was another way of improving farming in the country.

One of the farmers, Mr Kandere Thehenyo also appreciated the company for the good initiative.

Digiwork is a private company that was established in 2016 with the aim of coming up with solutions to problems faced by the society such as cattle theft, human/elephant conflict, road accidents and poaching. ENDS