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Nothing much has happened in India during 2024, which was declared the Year of Camelids devoted to camels, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos by the United Nations, an organisation representing the Raika pastoralist camel breeders of Rajasthan has stated.
This is in stark contrast to the attention given to raising awareness about millets during the UN-declared International Year of Millets in 2023, a statement by the Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan (LPPS) noted.
“While there was a plethora of culinary events around millets, helping them to get (re-) established in local and international cuisine, so far NOTHING has happened with respect to camel milk, even though India’s camels desperately need this to survive into the future,” the statement read.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization website notes: “The International Year of Camelids 2024 highlights how camelids are key to the livelihoods of millions of households in difficult environments across over 90 countries, particularly Indigenous Peoples and local communities.”
LPPS was formed at the request of Raika camel breeders, who wanted better access to veterinary care for their camels, as per its website.
It highlighted that Indian camels (dromedaries for the most part) were facing an existence crisis and the country not capitalising on camel milk will push them further towards extinction.
While global camel numbers are increasing steadily, in India they have dropped precipitously from over a million to now around 200,000, according to LPPS. India is the only major country to lose its camels, the organisation claimed.
“Camel milk is regarded as ‘superfood’ with therapeutic value for a range of health problems and as antidote for civilizational diseases, such as asthma, allergies, diabetes and autism. We proudly claim that Rajasthan’s camel milk is the best in the world — due to the region-specific diet of ayurvedic plants that camels forage, and the unique cruelty-free Raika camel culture and nomadic management system. Rajasthan must capitalise on this and develop it into its touristic USP,” the statement read.
It added that countries like the United Arab Emirates and China had shown that it is possible to reverse downward trends of national camel populations with the right kind of interventions: “If they can do it, India can certainly do it too!”
The LPPS urged that the remaining months of the International Year of Camelids must be used to highlight the nutritional value and gastronomic potential of camel milk and leverage it for camel conservation.