Traditional practices of camel husbandry, their drivers and role in promoting camel health and productivity across five communities in northern Kenya

Camel rearing is one of the most versatile livelihoods in northern Kenya because of its ability to sustain production in the often-dry pastoral rangelands. However, the capacity of pastoral households to adopt and expand camel herds is constrained by several factors. These include (i) a low knowledge of control of camel diseases that leads to high morbidities and mortalities, (ii) poor milking practices that predicate high competition for milk between calf and man leading to high camel-calf mortalities, (iii) inadequate herding labour that limits capacity to effectively exploit the expansive range ecosystem, and (iv) high prices and unwillingness to trade in female animals that reduces access to replacement stock. This study surveyed 340 camel keeping households from five communities in northern Kenya (viz. Borana, Gabbra, Rendille, Somali and Turkana) to assess their traditional practices of camel husbandry and the extent to which they mitigate these constraints. The study also sampled and examined 847 camels belonging to the households to evaluate the potential effect of the husbandry practices on production performance and health of camels. The results showed significant differences across the communities in traditional practices of camel husbandry including the selection of herd structures, herd dynamics practices, sourcing and utilisation of grazing labour, knowledge and control of camel diseases, milking practices and sharing of milk between camel-calf and man. Similarly, significant differences were observed in production performance and health of camels including herd-level disease prevalence, anaemia, body condition scores, calf mortalities, herd sizes, and milk production and sale. This study delineates the traditional practices of camel husbandry with potential to improve camel herd health and production performance. The study also identifies the herders’ socioeconomic circumstances that preclude implementation of the practices and suggests recommendations that may increase uptake of the good husbandry practices for increased uptake of camels.