At today’s GLFAfrica event, we were pleased to join partners to convene a Resilient Rangelands pavilion session updating participants on progress and plans for Kenya’s proposed ‘Camel Centre of Excellence’ (CCE).
Identified as a priority at Kenya’s 2024 Pastoralist Leadership Summit, the Government of Kenya directed that the Camel Centre of Excellence be established to focus on the roles of camels in livelihoods, food systems and climate adaptation in arid and semi-arid regions. Members of a task force set up to operationalise this decision shared their perspectives and visions for the centre.
Opening the discussions, Professor Abdi Yakub Guliye, Advisor for Livestock and Rangeland Management in the Executive Office of the President of Kenya, made the case for camels within the Government’s vision 2030. He argued that they are well-adapted to the climates of the region’s drylands and, notably, the camel production area is growing as climate changes reduce the areas suitable for cattle. Moreover, he signaled the growing market potential of camel milk – it offers good economic returns while camel milk and meat consumption is growing.
Tahira Mohamed (ILRI and Jameel Observatory) framed the discussions, asking ‘why camels’ and ‘why now’. She emphasized the importance of camels (19 million in the Horn of Africa), their economic importance (globally, a USD 14 billion milk market in 2023), and their contributions to livelihoods and food security.
She singled out some critical management and production constraints in the region, zooming in on a critical health blind spot – unexplained disease outbreaks across the region.
Looking ahead, she identified three priority areas for the audience to engage and coordinate efforts: camel science and one health surveillance, women and youth-led value chains, and climate-smart rangeland stewardship
A panel moderated by Ekta Patel (ILRI) then explored questions around the proposed CCE and its operations.
Opportunities for the CCE identified by panelists included: turning increasing milk into economic and market opportunities; expanding jobs and livelihoods; connecting knowledge and expertise; offering a voice for camels and their producers; and moving from subsistence to economic returns.
Looking to operationalizing the CCE, panelists were asked to comments on some challenges:
Considering policy challenges, Halima Nenkari, senior deputy director for livestock production in Kenya’s State Department for Livestock Development highlighted the issue of feeds: What happens to our rangelands if we increase the numbers?
From a science perspective, Ilona Gluecks reflected on ILRI’s value proposition for the CCE, how it can provide demand led solution focused research, across boundaries and the potential to tap into diverse capacities and expertise.
From a business perspective, Piers Simpkin of Spiers Camel and Livestock Consultants Ltd called for the CCE to provide a vision and holistic approach, that improves the whole system, that helps to get the economics and the markets right, that can act as a knowledge resource. He cautioned, however, about the risk of ‘over-commercializing’ a tremendous resilience animal.
From a producer perspective, Tumal Orto Galdibe, a prominent pastoralist leader, reminded us that an immediate disease threat in pastoralist areas needs to be tackled through the CCE.
Looking at institutionalization, Simon Kuria, a Chief Research Scientist at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, argued for a physical infrastructure, for an autonomous organization with sustainable financing and strong public-private involvement.
Success for the CCE, according to Mohamed Ibrahim Elmi, chair of Kenya’s National Livestock Development and Promotion Service, is an entity that can tackle all the diverse demands – research, genetics, health and markets – and have the right financing model.
Key inputs from the audience were to protect pastoralist roles and involvement in the CCE’s work and not to overlook the social and cultural value of camels; these are often more important to camel owners that their economic value.
Diba Dida Wako of Mercy Corps closed the discussion, re-stating the health threats to camels that need to be urgently addressed and explaining that a task force is right now focused on plans to operationalize and finance the CCE, bringing in key voices to ensure its relevance.