The Department of LARMAT is delighted to present this Camel Husbandry, Health and Welfare Handbook that was co-developed as part of experiential training and co-learning undertaken in 2023 the Samburu County under the auspices of TRAMAP Kenya project with funding from AgriFoSe2030 Program Challenge II led by Prof. Madelene Ostwald of Linköping University.
The training participants were drawn among camel keepers (both experienced and non-experienced), community disease reporters (CDRs) camel husbandry practitioners (Kenya Camel Association), livestock extension officers, State Department of Livestock Production, Samburu County, animal health and welfare experts (ASAL eXtension) and University of Nairobi researchers from the Department, Dr. Stephen Mureithi and Dr. Staline Kibet.
The goal of this Handbook is to empower especially the first-time camel keepers who have received camels under the County Government of Samburu led resilience building programme. Even though tailored for Samburu, the Handbook is applicable in all the the ASAL Counties.
The role of camels in livelihoods of Kenya pastoral communities has increased in the recent past event among traditionally cattle keepers. This has been seen has adaptive management strategy in response to increasing climatic variability and change. This change has been particularly evident among the Samburu community of northern Kenya. Camel keeping among the community appears to be a success story of a locally driven initiative by people who are typically thought to be amongst the most vulnerable to climate change and to have ‘low adaptive capacity’. The initiative has also been taken up by development organizations as well as the county governments, which have started to help communities restock with camels viewed as ‘the most resilient livestock. The County government of Samburu for example has been donating camels to vulnerable households as a means to build their resilience after majority lost their cattle, goats and sheep to droughts, diseases and/or theft. Increase in bush encroachment and subsequent decline in grazing capacity, increase in resource-based conflicts in the county may have also informed the choice of camel as preferred alternative species. Whereas the initiative to donate camels to vulnerable households was noble, it was noted that a number of them sold off the camels soon after due to lack of husbandry skills and/or demand for immediate basic needs.
TRAMAP Kenya sought to fill in the capacity need gap and thus help the County Government to realize the intended impact. This Camel Husbandry, Health and Welfare Handbook was codeveloped as part of experiential training and co-learning undertaken in 2023 the Samburu County. The training participants was drawn among camel keepers (both experienced and nonexperienced), community disease reporters (CDRs) camel husbandry practitioners (Kenya Camel Association), livestock extension officers, State Department of Livestock Production, Samburu County, animal health and welfare experts (ASAL eXtension) and researchers (University of Nairobi).
The training adopted both theoretical and practical sessions and have been packaged into seven sections on this handbook. The handbook commences with a brief introduction about the camel keeping in Kenya and the role it is taking in the country’s economy in light of increasing vulnerability of pastoral communities as a result of negative impacts of climate change and land degradation. Read More