Categories
Camel and Nature Connection Camel and water Camel Farm & Milk Production Ecosystem Management General about camel Gut health The Camel Science

Camel Ensures Food Security under the Climate Change

Camel ensures food security in climate change scenario, why? Because;

  • Camel is the most efficient animal in water economy, as camel consumes 8-10 times less water than the dairy cow in the same environment to produce 1 kg of milk
  • Camel has unique gut flora (microbiome), very diverse and as efficient as the termite’s microflora, can digest the hardiest and toughest dry matter, the camel can convert wood into energy
  • Camel is protein efficient as camel recycles blood urea and fulfill some of the protein requirement its recycling mechanism
  • Camel has very minute or zero-emission because of its efficient digestive system which digests feedstuffs in a way that produce very little methane
  • The high temperature cannot depress the milk yield of the camel, ironically the camel lactation curve incline in the harsh summer days
  • Camel does not need any cooling inputs, they can tolerate the skin burning heat waves of the desert, otherwise, in the same environment the dairy cattle need artificial cooling systems which consume energy and water
Camel is the most visible player of the desert

What do the Camels need from us?

The camels and the camels’ keepers need our support at the policy level. The camel must be considered as an important player while making policies about the deserts, climate change, food security, pastoralism, energy, emissions, dairy, meat, rural development, poverty reduction, and other related aspects. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141117111944-85443832-camel-a-solution-to-the-difficult-questions-of-future

Categories
Camel and Nature Connection Camel and water Camel in Middle East and Africa General about camel

Water Footprint of the Incredible Camel

Why African Pastoralists are replacing cows with the camels?

Northern Kenya is the paradise of camels as well as other livestock species. The landscape of the region is home to the traditional livestock keepers, we call them pastoralists or nomads. The concurrent droughts and climate change calamities forced the traditional livestock keepers to replace the cattle pastoralism with the camel one because of its hardiness and water economy. Map of the region

A comparison of Indigenous cow vs camel in water economy

I hereby share the results of a study in the region, which will help you in understanding the water economy of the camel and other livestock. The camel almost drinks 1/3rd of the volume of water consumed by the local nomadic cow in the same environment and production system (dry season). The water economy is important and relevant in the dry season.

Camel is the animal of challenges

Dr. Raziq

a. Dry Season

To be even more exact in N Kenya pastoral systems the water intake in ml/kg (live body weight) per day in dry seasons is 25.4 ml/kg/day for camels; 70.75 ml/kg/day for cattle and 76 ml/kg/day for goats. It means a camel with a live body weight of 500, consumes a volume of 12.7 litre of water per day.

b. Wet Season

In wet seasons it is 3.37 ml/kg/day for camels and 24.69 for goats. The cattle were not recorded in wet. Figures for reference are taken from Field, 1983. Bear in mind that camels only lactate once in 2 years and cattle every year and goats 1.5× per year but even then camels use less water.

The camels are not only hardy to dry and harsh climatic conditions also the most effecient animal in water economy.

Reference

Challenges of camel production in Samburu District, Kenya Challenges of camel production in Samburu District, Kenya