Country's first digital livestock management

In 2015, I was amazed when I visited De Marke, Netherlands. De Marke is a dairy research farm that researches and demonstrates technologies for clean and sustainable dairy farming. The wonderful use of modern technology gave the farm a different look. It seemed like it was not a cow farm, as if I had come to an industrial establishment. It was a reminder that the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to bring revolutionary transformation in the farming sector. This is called smart technology. The definition of smart has changed at present. Smart now means to be connected to the internet, where any information is available. In this century we have entered the smart age. De Marke was also a smart one. Everything is controlled smartly there. From feeding cows to collecting milk, everything is regulated using internet.

There is a chip for every cow in the smart farm management. The chip is usually attached to the neck collar or ears. It is a chip that can collect all the physical and surrounding information of the cow. For example, cow's body temperature, blood circulation, chewing practice, breeding period; it gives accurate information about everything. It helps prevent untimely abortion by giving all types of information about maternal physical status of a mother cow. What kind of nutrients a cow needs, how much light and air it needs, and even the time when the cow is ready to milk; a farmer can easily know all from the information that will come to his mobile phone through internet connected to the base station.

In early December 2018, Grameenphone invited me to the launching programme of smart technology in cow farms. I could not attend it because I had a schedule to attend a programme in South Korea. Coincidentally, I got to visit a smart farm in South Korea. In South Korea, it was shivering cold then. The temperature at noon was minus 1. On that day of freezing weather, I reached Kim's dairy farm in Chungnam province situated almost 250 km from Seoul.

It is better not to call Kim's farm a farm. Rather, a dairy industry. Local representatives, livestock department officials and others were present at the farm to welcome us. Please note, large companies and local government provide active support to run such dairy farms in South Korea. Kim's farm is quite big. Compared to that, there were not many labourers. This facility of technology is controlling the farm environment, light and air, everything. Weather and environment need to be favourable for the good health of any animal. Especially, in a place like South Korea, where it is too hot and cold, people need to be always updated with such information. In this case, smart technology is very effective, Kim said. “The Korean weather is extreme, so I always have to be aware of the farm's temperature,” added Kim. To get good production, the animals have to be provided with nutritious food as well as good environment. Farmers in our country do all these using their indigenous knowledge, which is not as effective as Kim's, but they get the result. 

Everything in the farm is controlled from Kim's office, where the main computer and routers are. It's called the base station. Data is always transmitted to the base station from the chip in each cow's collar. A lot like the GPS chip. If the cow does not eat properly or does not behave properly, then the chip will automatically send information to the base station. From there, Kim is getting information on the computer. Wherever Kim is, notifications pop up in his mobile phone.

Kim said building smart technology farms is very expensive. It may be okay for the large scale farmers. But it will be difficult for small or medium scale farmers to afford this. However, there is no doubt about the benefits of using this technology.

Dear readers, Grameenphone has introduced the country's first IoT-based digital livestock management solution Digi Cow for livestock farmers.

MA Sabur, businessman of Kanchan in Narayanganj, has brought eight cows from his cattle farm under Digi Cow smart management. Last week, I visited MA Sabur's Masco Dairy Farm. I have already mentioned that agricultural technology means investment in the sector. The big businessmen are investing in this. MA Sabur's son is very fond of agriculture. So, three years ago, he established a 14 bigha (approximately 4.62 acres) dairy farm seeing his son's passion for the smart cattle farm. Big businessmen like MA Sabur are now investing in agriculture. He is doing it more out of love than for any commercial purpose. It has turned out to be a potential investment sector. The agricultural scenario is changing day by day. Eminent businessman MA Sabur's farm also represents its possibilities. Two hundred cows are being raised in seven sheds of this huge farm. Each shed has different varieties of cow. Bulls, pregnant cows, dairy cows and calves have been kept in separate sheds. Here, a digital device has been attached with eight cows. These are now 100 percent under computer control.

Eight devices, called neck tags, are hung on the necks of eight cows. It basically provides information to the computer by analyzing common data from the cow's diet to its behaviour. The device attached to the cow's ears is called smart tag. It provides information on the reproductive period of the cows and related problems. All information is regulated by a router and, through the computer's special software, notifications are sent to farmers about the cow's overall state. Also, advanced reminders for cow's vaccination or medication are sent to the farmer's mobile. So that the farmer can take steps to solve any problem before any damage can occur.

I talked to Imtiaz Mahbub, product manager, Grameenphone's Smart Agri division, about the technology. He said that 46 percent of the total population of Bangladesh is raising cattle and 20 percent of the population does it for a living. Since 1980, the farmers of the country started breeding cows through crossbreeding or artificial breeding. Identifying hormonal heat periods of the cows is the main obstacle in this method. In a number of cases, there was a loss of around Tk 13,000 every time farmers failed to detect the hormonal heat period of the cows. There is no way to understand or identify health issues of cows or cattle. As a result, the rate of cow mortality in the country is currently 5.6 percent.

Shafiqul Islam is in charge of overall supervision of Masco Dairy Farm. I talked to him as well. He said the cost of making base station is Tk 28,500 and the cost of each tag is Tk 6,500. The total cost of bringing eight cows of the farm under smart technology is Tk 80,500.

The milking process is not yet covered by this technology. Environmental monitoring technology has not been brought either. But since it has started, we will soon see all the smart technologies of the developed world coming here.

Dear readers, future farming scenario means smart agriculture. IoT means Internet of Things based on artificial intelligence. There is no doubt that artificial intelligence will keep on adding new dimensions to agriculture, which will provide many new information. The developed world is now using modern technology in livestock and dairy farms. Farmers of Europe, USA and Africa are getting benefitted by using smart technologies. South Korea is working with the goal of bringing 10 percent of the livestock farms under the use of smart technology by 2022. Keeping in mind the benefits, farmers can use this smart technology. Proper public and private support to ensure small and medium scale farmers is needed above everything else. And one thing is well proven. When technology is used more in numbers, then the cost comes down and becomes relatively low. And we have to agree that there is no alternative to technology for safe, secure and high production.