Drop cattle for camels, says agency

Climate change is increasingly putting cattle rearing at risk, a UN agency warned last week, calling on Kenyan livestock farmers to reallocate investments to camel and goat keeping.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says in its latest report that Kenyans should deepen investment in alternative sources of meat and milk in the wake of frequent droughts and declining feeds acreage.

The Commodities and Development Report 2019 that UNCTAD released last week, notes that small ruminants such as dairy goats are more resilient to heat stress than large animals such as dairy cows.

Camels, on the other hand, generally have a lower metabolisms which enables them to consume less feeds per day than cattle, the global report adds.

“Therefore, under extreme climate warming conditions, the dairy-mix may evolve in favour of goats in order to maintain higher productivity and minimise the occurrence of diseases,” the report states.

“The total amount of digested fibre per day and the total amount of methane produced is lower in camelids. Raising camels does not necessitate trekking long distances in search of water, so that herders can remain closer to towns, where they can access a ready market for camel milk.”

The report cites pastoralists in Marsabit County for beating increased aridity and food security pressures by rearing camels.

Cattle remain the main source of meat with some 2.78 million heads slaughtered last year from 2.59 million heads in 2017 and 2.08 million five years ago, the Economic Survey 2019 shows.

Milk production recovered from a multi-year low of 535.7 million litres as a result of a biting drought in first half of 2017 to 634.3 million litres last year, official data shows.

Food and Agriculture Organisation Corporate Statistical Database suggests that cattle account for 65 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the livestock industry, higher than goats and poultry whose share is between seven and 10 percent.