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Pigs play an important role in both Papua New Guinea’s culture and economy. Growing global demand for pork is creating new opportunities for exports, but only if farmers can prove the quality of their product. FAO, in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union, is creating a distributed ledger system (better known as a blockchain system) that can track livestock and give consumers confidence by verifying the pig’s history. Using the system, farmers can record important information about their pigs, including their pedigree, how they are fed, when they have been sick, and what medications they have received. Prior to the implementation of the system, consumers had no way to verify this information. Implementing the new tracking system is critical to building consumer trust and ensuring farmers can expand their markets and receive a fair return on their investment.
In Papua New Guinea, no celebration is complete without a pig roast. As one of the few mammals found on the island, pigs play an important role in the country’s culture and economy. Traditionally, smallholder farmers who raise the vast majority of pigs have sold their livestock locally, but increased global demand for pork means new opportunities to enter international markets. As a result, farmers are looking for a way to prove that their livestock meets international standards — and now they’re turning to blockchain, an immutable data recording technology, to do just that.
At the request of the Jiwaka Provincial Government, FAO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conceived and designed a new livestock tracking blockchain system for small-scale pig farmers. Using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and smartphone apps, farmers can keep digital records of how they raise their pigs, proving, for example, that they have eaten sweet potatoes or received the proper vaccinations. Thanks to this reliable digital history, buyers can be sure of the quality of their livestock, while farmers can get a fairer return on their investment.
The system is currently being piloted in Jiwaka, where local communities are eager to test the initiative. The provincial government has provided smartphones to 25 smallholder farmers and trained them on how to use the app. Meanwhile, the country’s national communications department is improving local broadband connections so that farmers can more easily use their smartphones to update livestock records in the cloud-based tracking system.
Johannes Pakange, a smallholder farmer who grows lemons and oranges and also raises pigs, is already looking forward to seeing the rewards of the new technology. “I am very happy that FAO has implemented this traceability system in Jiwaka,” he said. “I have tagged my piglets so that when they reach 100 kg, I can sell them and people can learn how my pigs are raised.”
In addition to blockchain technology, FAO is also developing other livestock-related initiatives. FAO is working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Papua New Guinea to provide livestock training to help smallholder farmers improve the health and value of pigs. FAO and ITU are also providing technical assistance in the development of Papua New Guinea’s national e-agriculture strategy, which will help the country use communications technology to address agricultural challenges.
Importantly, FAO is also working with provincial health officials to raise awareness about antibiotic resistance and the importance of raising and eating healthy animals. Pigs are sometimes given antibiotics used by humans, which can cause them to become resistant to the drugs. When these pigs are eaten, they can pass this resistance on to humans, increasing the risk of contracting “superbugs” that are resistant to any treatment. FAO is therefore encouraging farmers to adopt an integrated “One Health” approach that looks at safeguarding the health of both people and animals to reduce disease threats and ensure a safe food supply.
The next step for the project is to improve the app and make it available to a wider group of farmers. FAO is also working with banks and mobile operators to enable online payments. The project could also create new opportunities for rural transporters, who can deliver pigs from sellers to buyers for a small fee. As blockchain software increases trust and opportunities in local markets, it also lays the foundation for future systems that allow smallholder farmers to meet international standards for exporting livestock. But for now, FAO is helping farmers increase their incomes, fight antibiotic resistance, create new opportunities throughout the value chain, and be part of the global goal to achieve #ZeroHunger.
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