Challenge I: Development of a cost-effective, scalable, and highly accurate individual animal identification system for large-scale national livestock management and traceability programs
Problem
India's ear-tag system (12-digit ID) suffers from low farmer acceptance, injury/infection risk, tagloss/tampering, and traceability gaps
~500M cattle & buffaloes need reliable tracking for health, breeding, productivity, disease control, and trade compliance
Solution Requirements
Biometric ID: Non-invasive (muzzle pattern, facial, iris, or novel methods); ≥99.5% accuracy; stable for life; usable from early age
Breed ID: Including mixed-breed composition (% mix)
Species: Cattle + buffalo now; extensible to small ruminants, swine
Tamper-proof: Resistant to damage/removal; secure, logged digital records
Digital records: Ownership, health, vaccination, productivity, movement — integrable with govt platforms
Traceability: Movement across disease zones; milk to pooling point; meat to individual animal
AI/ML-enabled for accuracy, automation, analytics
Cost-effective & scalable: Field-operable, portable, low infrastructure — deployable across South Asia/Africa at national scale
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