Uganda to start issuing birth certificates to cows

Mr Vincent Ssempijja, Uganda’s Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has announced that the government would soon start registering farmers and issue birth certificate to cows.

Ssempijja said this while speaking at the official opening of the National Agricultural Show on Tuesday, July 16, 2019

According to Daily Monitor, a news platform in the country, the minister said the move was necessary to ensure that the traceability of every farmer’s cows and to ensure the farmers benefits from the international market.

Ssempijja said, “They (international market) want to know where the products are coming from; they have been impounding and banning all consignments from Uganda if they find one box with issues.”

The minister also said that “Farmers will be registered and their products given barcodes so that if they find a problem with one box, they look for the source and sort out the problem. We cannot enter the lucrative market unless farmers register.’’

‘‘For cattle farmers, it is going to be worse. You will be registered as a farmer, the cow will be registered, numbered and will have a birth certificate because the importers of our products demand meat for cows aged between 15 to 24 months. So we are going to sell depending on their age.”