New Zealand to make livestock traceability compulsory

The New Zealand government has agreed to fund and make compulsory a livestock tracing scheme for cattle farmers.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said the government would provide funding to build and operate the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system.  

The government will fund the capital costs and cover most of the operational funding for the development period. Annual ongoing operating costs of around $6 million will be funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and by levy contributions from cattle farmers.

Livestock industries were vitally important to the economy and NAIT would help maintain confidence of export markets in the safety and disease-free status of New Zealand's livestock products, while boosting preparedness for disease outbreaks, he said.

Carter said NAIT needed to be compulsory because complete records of individual animal movements are needed to ensure effective biosecurity responses. The aim is for the scheme to be compulsory for cattle farmers from October 2011.

NAIT would be able to reduce the impact of outbreaks, for example of foot and mouth, by 4% to 10%, MAF estimated.

There would be legal protections to ensure that use of information did not breach the Privacy Act.