Camel milk: The future for India's camels

Dr Piers Simpkin, a Kenya-based camel expert, examines Rajasthan's decline in production of camel milk, charts path to revival

- ANTONIA FILMER

Dr Piers Simpkin is camel expert, an academic based in Kenya who has kept his own herd of 75+ camels and has 40 years of experience of camel husbandry, professionally he is an expert on hoof stock and livelihoods in arid lands.

His dream opportunity came true when the Maharaja of Jodhpur, His Highness Bhapji GajSingh II, invited him to advise on how best to reverse the decline in camel numbers in Rajasthan, and comment on the draft camel policy under consideration. The brief also included discovering if high yielding milking camel breeds could be found in India's Rajasthan camel herds, which could be a new source of income for Rajasthans' camel keepers, whilst boosting income and yields for camel owners in Kenya and neighbouring Horn of Africa countries.

Kenya's camel statistics proved much larger than India's rather dated statistics although the human population of Kenya is just 67 million, it is estimated about 2 million people keep 4.7million camels. It is hard to verify the number of India's camel owning people but it is thought to be between 200,000 and 500,000 people who keep less than quarter a million camels.