Title : Internet of things and its implications on veterinary services to farmers in Uganda
Abstract:
Globally, advances in technology and innovations in veterinary science have created a number of opportunities to enhance animal health and veterinary services. Lately, Internet of Things (IoT) application in veterinary has led to efficient animal treatment as well as improved animal products. It also promotes animal production, through timely service, data collection, health and disease detection. Innovations in Technology boosts mapping and surveillance of disease spread, animal location plus collaboration across different sectors that make it easy to track medicines and vaccines for veterinary use. Smart technologies particularly Internet of things and its application in veterinary medicine by use of technology devices, enable veterinary professional and farmers to monitor animal health, location, feeding habits, mating cycles as well as movement patterns. Additionally, it has been integrated in breeding, product quality, milking process and thus high production. Conversely, in Uganda especially in rural areas, there has been low adoption of these technologies. This is attributed to poor internet network, poverty among farmers, absence of devices, lack of awareness, scarcity of veterinary professionals and cost of veterinary services. The specific objectives are; To determine the internet of things technology devices used by the veterinary professionals in offering veterinary services; To ascertain the role technology (IoT) plays in improving animal health and production; To evaluate challenges veterinary practitioners encounter in using technology to offer veterinary services to the farmers and suggest mitigation measures. The literature of this study will include the key concepts as well as details about internet of things and technologies in veterinary services. The methodology section shall consist of the research design which will be descriptive and survey, the target population will be 80 comprising of farmers and veterinary practitioners. The sample will be 50 by use of Slovenes formula and the sampling technique will be convenience sampling. The sampling unit will be the household and data collection instruments will be focus group discussion and regression analysis will be used to analyse data by use of spss. Data presentation will be in form of tables and figures. The findings are expected to be useful to policy makers, veterinary professionals, improve veterinary service delivery as well as help farmers enhance animal production and health.
Key words: Internet, things, veterinary, services, animals and devices
