Bridging the IT divide — Case study on the Botswana livestock industry

Botswana is a cattle farming country, with cattle out numbering humans, last cattle census put cattle at 3 000 000 while people are at 2 044 904(Botswana Census 2011). Rural communities are 100 % depended on farming and mostly livestock farming due to the drought spells that make crop production a risk; the local livestock population can endure the drought and disease conditions. From 1999 the government of Botswana, started planning for the introduction of a tamper proof means of livestock identification that could individually identify a particular animal. This meant introduction of an electronic identification device that is computerized and connected through a central data base. The government of Botswana was mandated to ensure that livestock data was collected from the rural areas and delivered electronically to the central data base and be availed to other users all over the country. The challenge was the unavailability of network connectivity in the rural areas in of low population density, such as to farms, ranches, cattle posts and small villages. In areas where the population density is high, it is easier for a service provider to recover equipment costs, but each rural customer may require expensive equipment to get connected, this was the case in Botswana farming communities with no access to network connectivity in 2000. The RFID microchip, which enables linking of a unique identifier to information on cattle and ownership, ensured data is collected, transferred and stored in a central computerized database. Office computerization alone could not be of much use, as veterinary staff would have access to technology in offices, but could not access livestock data in cattle posts and farms. A solution had to be sought, therefore, the introduction of a mobile extension officer personal computer known as an EOPC with a supporting data synchronisation architecture.