While Kenyans are used to tea made of cow’s milk for their breakfast, a new beverage is brewing in the country: this is tea made of camel’s milk.
Already some of supermarkets, shops and restaurants in major cities and towns in the country have started registering demand for the milk.
According to Jama Warsame, founder of WhiteGold, a camel milk processing factory in Nanyuki, where demand for camel milk in the past had largely been driven by the local Somali community who grew up with it, today more and more customers are requesting it.
“WhiteGold stepped in to help herders cash in like any other farmers in the country and because not so many people know about the curative elements of the camel milk, we started by creating awareness which yielding fruits,” said Warsame.
Today, the company’s most clients are referred by doctors on cases like allergy, diabetes, and lactone intolerance in children as camel milk is medicinal.
A Medicinal Value of Camel Milk and Meat study by Journal of Applied Animal Research published on 28 Jul 2017 says camel milk has low cholesterol, high minerals (sodium, potassium, iron, copper, zinc and magnesium) and high vitamin C when compared with other ruminant milk.
It contains various fatty acids, enzymes and protective proteins besides potential therapeutic effects such as antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, anti-ageing and anticarcinogenic.
Given the benefits, Warsame’s WhiteGold started processing 500 litres of milk a day only six months after establishment but as the demand rises, they are now eyeing more than 3,000 litres a day.
“We have listed over 30 herders as suppliers on contract basis, but working on how to spread our reach to more producer counties like Isiolo, Marsabit, Meru, Wajir and Mandera,” said Warsame.
He is now carving a niche market by supplying processed and quality camel milk and its products to several consumer outlets in the country.
Animal of the future
According to Khalif Abey, the National Coordinator at Kenya Camel Association, camel is the animal of the future owing to the biting effects of climate change world over.
“Camel is often the only defense against starvation during the perennial periods of drought and it is the animal for commerce especially for communities living in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) who are faced with drought challenges,” said Abey.
The association has been working on a project for camel husbandry in drought areas of Kenya as an adaptation to climate change since the animal is much better suited to conditions in the drought-hit areas.
The project which has already benefited 5,575 people from the pastoral communities disseminates information on animal diseases and their treatment and also makes this data available to a web-based government-run disease monitoring system.
Among the beneficiaries are 25 members of the Tawakal Women Group in Isiolo County who are now transforming their fortunes with camel milk.
Every morning they have to take their milk to a bus stage for onward transportation to Nairobi.
Milk production
Haji Hussein, a decade long camel farmer from Isiolo County says that camels can provide three times more milk than cows.
“If I had 75 cows they would produce an average of 10-20 liters of milk per day, that same number of camels gives me 50-60 liters and can be milked any time of the day, unlike cows which have a fixed milking schedule,” he said.
The businessman who sells the bulk of his milk to clients in Nairobi says demand for the white gold is insatiable.
His camels are milked in the morning to avoid spoilage by the region’s characteristic steaming sun before they are released to forage for themselves.
FAO’s Animal Production and Health Paper confirms that in North Kenya, camels produce far more milk than the local cows. The Sakuye camel produces an average of 4kg milk daily with a maximum of 12kg while a cow produces 0.5–1.5kg per day.
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