On December 27, 2017, the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched a mobile application to forewarn farmers about diseases affecting their livestock so that farmers can take timely precautionary and control measures.
The app, called Livestock Disease Forewarning (LDF) mobile app, will provide early warning about diseases as well as information about clinical samples for diagnosis in the case of an epidemic. It has been developed by ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI), which will issue warnings on 13 priority animal diseases identified by the agriculture department. A monthly bulletin will provide monthly livestock disease alerts to animal husbandry departments at the Centre and in the states.
The complex statistical algorithm involved considers both climatic and non-climatic factors and categorizes districts into Very High Risk, High Risk, Moderate Risk, Low Risk, Very Low Risk and No Risk for a particular disease so that stakeholders can effectively plan and utilize the available resources.
The app works on all Android smartphones and takes up 2.5 MB space.
Animal disease can adversely affect agriculture economy and livestock is a critical area. Prevalence of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD), Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (HS), Brucellosis, Black Quarter (BQ) in cattle, sheep-goat pox in sheep and goats and swine fever in pigs drastically reduces the productivity of animals and hits investment in the sector.