"For a long time, farmers were faced with a cumbersome paper-based system for tracking movement of sheep. It was unwieldy for farmers, and also unwieldy for DAFM and for regulatory bodies.”
Ashish Singh, who leads Deloitte’s Animal Identification & Movement (AIM) team, explains what an exciting new app meant for farmers in Ireland, and how it has been developed for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
“DAFM identified the difficulties with the traditional paper-based system and set in train the development of a digital application portal to record the movements of sheep from farm to farm that would be accurate, improve the farmers’ experience, and reduce administrative burdens on DAFM staff.”
In response to this, a dedicated Deloitte team worked closely with the Animal Identification and Movement Division in the Department to develop a new app. The project involved comprehensive user research and numerous internal and external workshops to fully understand the requirements for the new digital portal.
“The resultant app”, says Singh, “enables sheep farmers to effectively and accurately record sheep movements between farms in the central database of the DAFM. The app is designed to be both compatible with existing systems but also adaptable to user needs.”
“With offline availability for farmers in areas where the network signal is weak, ease of installation on handheld devices and seamless usage across phones, tablets, laptops and desktops, the app not only tackles the immediate problems of the paper-based system, but also paves the way for a more streamlined and effective approach to managing sheep movements in the farming community.”
Using the app, farmers can upload Dispatch Documents to DAFM digitally, which eliminates the need for physical paperwork and simplifies the documentation process. This means the app has provided a comprehensive solution for the farming community to the limitations of the paper-based process and this means the process, which used to take days, now only takes farmers minutes.
It is expected that new features will be added to the app and it will be extended to cover further species.
The app is a real leap forward for DAFM in terms of strengthening the sheep movement traceability. Singh says, “it helps us record real time data and it makes life easier for the farmer and DAFM."
