Cattle identification through facial recognition using muzzle printing

Iffco Tokyo is digitizing its cattle insurance by deploying an artificial intelligence-powered digital tag developed by Dvara E-Dairy Solutions. TOI had reported in March 2021 how the new biometric technology for livestock could widen the scope of cattle insurance by solving the problem of cattle identity.

Muzzle images of the cattle are collected through the Surabhi mobile application and stored in hi-resolution images as a unique digital identity. Dvara will assist Iffco Tokyo General Insurance Company Limited in digital transformation from the existing cattle identity solutions.

The artificial intelligence-driven mobile application of Dvara E-Dairy captures muzzle images with the mobile phone, compares the cattle’s unique digital identity stored in a secured cloud server, and retrieves the results at the click of a button in less than 60 seconds.

Conventional methods like polyurethane ear tags (PU ear tags) can be easily tampered with and are prone to duplication and fraud. Also, Injectable Radio Frequency Identification ( RFID) tags are expensive and require specialized skills. On the other hand, muzzle printing or nose printing is a unique identifier because it perceives patchy traits on the muzzle of cattle, just like human fingerprints.

The grooves, valleys, and beads structures, cattle muzzle prints have discriminative features, making them unique. Surabhi e-Tag captures these features and stores them in a secure, tamper-proof environment and can significantly improve the penetration of cattle insurance.

“Lack of tamper-proof, scalable, unique digital identity of cattle is one of the key reasons for moral hazard, resulting in a higher loss ratio for cattle insurers. Using advanced AI and ML technologies, the critical challenge of improving the quality of images at the time of image capturing is mitigated. We are excited to launch a pilot with IFFCO Tokio General Insurance. ” said Ravi. K.A, Founder & CEO, Dvara E-Dairy Solutions.

Subrata Mondal, EVP – Underwriting, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance, said, “We were exploring a reliable cattle identity process that can be stored digitally and can be accessed anytime. We are happy to partner with Dvara E-Diary to launch Surabhi e-Tag that accurately captures muzzle images.”

According to Dvara, India has the largest cattle population of 300 million. Only 4% of these cattle are insured while 6-8% are funded by lending institutions.

The Times of India : June 29 2021