Socioeconomic aspects of rearing camels under two production systems in Sudan

E S Shuiep, I E M El Zubeir¹ and I A Yousif²

Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Nyala, Nyala, Sudan
tahirr13@yahoo.com
¹Department of Dairy Production, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Khartoum,
PO Box 321, Postal code 13314, Khartoum, Sudan
²Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Khartoum,
PO Box 321, Postal code 13314, Khartoum, Sudan

Abstract

In this study, a questionnaire was designed to investigate some socioeconomic aspects of rearing camels under semi intensive and traditional nomadic production systems in Sudan.

The illiterate camel herders were 24% and 88%, and their averages ages were 51.4±9.8 and 30.2±7.2 years, in the semi intensive and the nomadic production system, respectively. Caring of quality of herds in term of productivity rather than herd size is the major characteristic of the semi intensive system which is practiced by more educated herders. They are fully adopting regular two times milking per day coupled with selling camel milk, the return of which has positively contributed to their well being. However, caring of quantity (herd size) which is very important socially coupled with irregular milking associated with the conserved attitude against selling milk are the most important characteristics of the nomadic system. Although the concept is traditionally unaccepted among camel herders in Sudan, interviewed nomadic families showed however, more flexibility concerning selling camel milk. Actually, 48% of the nomadic interviewees are selling fermented milk. Nevertheless, selling small ruminants and/or young male camels is still the major sources of income for nomadic herders. The salaries of hired laborers in addition to the cost of feeding explain the high cost of rearing camels in the semi intensive system. However, participation of household in husbandry practices in addition to the free utilization of natural pastures reduced the cost of raising camels to the minimum in the nomadic system.

Key words: C. dromedarius , husbandry, semi intensive, nomads

Introduction

The majority of Sudanese camel (Camelus dromedarius) population, which is estimated at 4.2 millions, is kept under the traditional nomadic system in the dry arid zones of the country (HCENR 2009). Nomadism, in Sudan and elsewhere, is a traditional way of life as well as system of rearing animals. It is a consequence of climatic and environmental factors that have resulted in especial form of utilizing natural resources. For Sudanese nomadic tribes in particular, seasonal availability of natural pastures and water is the major reason behind the contentious mobility according to which time and direction of herd’s movement is determined. Sudanese nomadic tribes comprise variety of movement patterns searching for pastures. These patterns range from contentious mobility to short distance movement in combination with some forms of agricultural activities. The short distance movement is practiced mainly by agro-pastoralists or in some cases by pastoralists owning small herds (Ishag and Ahmed 2011).

Beside the traditional nomadic system, camels in Sudan are also reared under semi nomadic production system, which is characterized by less mobility compared to the nomadic one (Eisa and Mustafa 2011). Camels are also kept under sedentary and semi sedentary production systems that are expressed by high level of settlement associated with some sorts of agricultural activities (Ishag and Ahmed 2011). During the last decade, camels were also introduced to the newly adopted semi intensive production system. Climatic changes characterized by decrease of mean rainfall with acute long periods of drought reported in the belt of camel rearing (HCENR 2009) has encouraged the establishment of the new system, in which selected groups of lactating she camels are kept in dairy farm mainly for milk production in the pre-urban area of Khartoum State (Babiker and El Zubeir 2014).

Camels are playing very important roles in the life of nomadic tribes rearing them. Socially, herd size is a very important indicator for the standing of the man in nomadic community. Camels have also significant contribution as major source of food (Iqbal 2010). Camel milk in particular has been reported as a very important nutrient source for humans (Farah et al 2007). Economically, camel milk however, has less importance as direct source of income for nomads as it is mainly consumed by the household. During the last few years, the awareness about nutritional and medicinal benefits of camel milk in the urban communities in Sudan has rabidly increased. Consequently, the market demand on the product has also increased. Nowadays, camel milk is available through different marketing channels in Khartoum State.

The establishment of the newly adopted semi intensive production system has economical and social impact on camel herders’ communities. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate some socioeconomic aspects of rearing camel under the semi intensive and the traditional nomadic production systems in Sudan.

Materials and Methods

Area and population of the study

Nomadic camel herder’s communities around El Obeid city were targeted in this study. El Obeid is located in semi desert area of North Kordofan State (13°08′ N and 30°10′ E) about 700 km North West the capital Khartoum. Targeted communities are adopting full nomadic production system, therefore, household and herds are in continuous movement within seasonal bathes from location to another searching for pastures and water. Moreover, camel herders adopting the semi intensive system in west Omdurman in the western part of Khartoum State (15° 31′ N and 32° 35′ E) were also targeted. In this system, camel herders are mainly originated from nomadic communities. Their families are settled in the urban area while camel herds are kept in dairy farms mainly for milk production.

Questionnaire

Information about rearing camel in the semi intensive system at Khartoum State and the traditional nomadic production system in North Kordofan State was obtained by dispatching questionnaires and conducting personal interviews with herders (n=25/system). The questionnaire was designed to obtain information about structure of camel herds, and general socioeconomic status of households, management of camel herds, milk production and activities associated with, breeding practices, sources of feed and other costs associated with rearing camels. Information collected during interviews was also supported by personal observations.

Statistical design and data analyses

Descriptive analytical statistical method was used in this study. The computer software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 13 was used to analyze data obtained from camel owners’ in the two production systems.

Results and Discussion

General socioeconomic status

Questionnaire analysis was conducted in this study to evaluate some socioeconomic aspects of rearing camels under the semi intensive and the traditional nomadic production systems in Sudan. Results are presented as descriptive statistics for each production system.

The house of nomadic family is a single small tent normally made of wood and plastic materials and in some cases special tents made of wool (locally known as shugga). The tent often contains single big bed, sea’an (a leather bag made from skin of goat) or plastic cans for water and/or for preparing fermented camel milk (locally known as gariss) in addition to very simple kitchen equipment for preparing food as shown in Photo 1.

Photo 1 . Nomads'  tent contains beds, plastic cans for water and another one for preparing fermented milk (gariss) for which sea’an is also used in addition to simple kitchen equipment

The results of this study showed that camel herders can be categorized into four educational levels (Figure 1). The proportion of herders that were illiterate was almost four times higher in the nomadic system. The percentage of uneducated herders in the semi intensive system is far less than that reported for camel herders in Western Sudan in a previous study by Musa et al (2006a). In the same time, a high percentage of educated camel herders (76%) including 16% graduate, in the semi intensive system were found. All graduated herders are originally from nomadic communities; nevertheless, most of them are now living in the urban area of Khartoum State. The response of educated herders to the changes in the surrounding environment is higher than that of the less educated. Practically, they showed businessmen mentality in the semi intensive system in term of commercialization of camel products. Whereas on the other hand, less educated nomads are still believing in the social concept of rearing camel. In the same context, the higher frequency of illiterates among nomadic community in the traditional system could be explained by their continuous mobility, which has resulted in less opportunity to introduce their children to the education system. In fact, some of them are not really ready to accept the concept of school.

Figure 1. Education levels of camel herders in semi intensive and traditional nomadic camel production systems (Sudan)

 The average age of camel herders in the semi intensive system was 51.4±9.8 years, with minimum and maximum values of 37 and 81 years, respectively. On the other side, the average age of camel owners in the nomadic system was 30.2±7.2 years, and the minimum and maximum ages were 16 and 41 years, respectively. The younger average age of camel herders in the traditional nomadic system could be explained by the fact that young men start establishing their own herds at relatively younger ages. Camel herders in the semi intensive system showed high level of settlement in the pre-urban area of Khartoum, while nomads are always in continuous move looking for pastures and water. Actually, families of relatives or extended families that descended from the same grandfather often keep their herds together so as to keep the extended family tightly, which is very important socially. Moreover, as a traditional attitude, nomads are often getting marriage from within relatives. Two reasons are behind this practice, first to keep the family tight, and second to keep their wealth within the family, as the cost of the wedding is partially paid in term of animals. Moreover, when someone dies, his herd is inherited by his son, whom his mother is a cousin of his father. In fact nomadic families stay together, not only for better exploitation of natural resources, but also to provide protection against misfortune or insecurity (Mukasa-Mugerwa 1981). At the same time, splitting camel herd into small groups in the pasture is a common practice among nomadic herders in the study area. That is to reduce risk, to make the handling of animals easier and to magnify the value of providing support to others as important social practices. The present results showed that rearing camel in the semi intensive system is a sort of investment as products of camel, namely milk, have increasingly high market demand while; rearing camel in nomadic system is simply way of life. This indicates that camels are still playing more social role in nomadic communities, while it has increasingly high economical role in the semi intensive system.

Structure and management of camel herds

The structure of camel herds in the two production systems is shown in Table 1. Smaller herd size mainly consisting of high yielding lactating she camels were observed in the semi intensive system. However, larger herd sizes were found in the nomadic system explainable by the fact that nomads are more caring for the quantity of herd rather than quality of individual animals.

In the semi intensive system camels are separately reared and no other species were observed. Among nomadic interviewed households, however, 48% and 8% were respectively rearing sheep and goats, beside camels (Table 2). This practice is common among traditional camel herders (Musa et al 2006b). The multi-species grazing pattern is a recommended method for better utilization of the pasture, as different parts of the plant would be used (Steinfeld 1998). The observations in this study also indicated that nomads preferred rearing sheep beside camel rather than goat, as the demand on sheep as source of meat is higher than goats, which are preferred for milk production. Nevertheless, goat milk is not preferred by camel herders; as they believe camel milk is the best milk ever.

Hired laborers with experience in handling camels are responsible for all husbandry practices in the semi intensive system. On the other side, in nomadic system, young men are often responsible for caring of camels. After a definite period of time, usually defined according to agreement, the young man start building his own herd by getting some pregnant females or more likely by getting some of the new born animals in a specific season. In rare cases young man can buy some animals to start building his own herd. This is not the recommended way, according to the interviewees as they do not prefer introducing new animal to their herds. Members of nomadic families including women and children are all involved in handling the herd (Table 3). Children, in particular, are not taking this responsibility alone; rather they normally help mature person to get experience for their future job (Photo 2).

Photo 2. In nomadic production system all family members including children are involved in husbandry practices, but children are not left alone to do the job, normally with elder people so as to gain experience.

Breeding practices

Camel herders in the two production systems mostly keep not more than two breeding males within the herd (Table 2). Keeping such limited breeding males has inbreeding consequences, as when a limited number of parents are employed, an increase of inbreeding in the population is likely to occur (Meszaros et al 1998). In the semi intensive system, to avoid the cost of keeping male for long time without function, breeding males are only limited to some farms. In contrast, as a quantity-wise interest, high number of male camels in different ages is observed in the nomadic herders (Table 1).

Camel male breeders are used for breeding from the age of seven years onwards. Among studied nomadic camel herds, selected males are frequently kept within the same herds for 9 to 12 years or even more. However, male camels those not involved in breeding programs are culled at age of 5 to 7 years (Musa et al 2006b). One male breeder can serve about 25 females or even more (40 to 50) as reported by Köhler-Rollefson et al (1991). In case of more than single male breeder in the herd, it is common that nomads let male animals to establish dominance. Since there are two breeding seasons, one male can serve during the rainy season (July to October), and the other one would be available in winter (December to January). The active male during the season will be fatigued at the end and willingly let himself be superseded during the following rutting period.

She camels are first bred at the age of 4- 5 years, producing their first calves one year later. Normally they continue giving birth every second year until the age of about 16 years, producing about 6 calves during their life span. However, there is an extremely wide range of variation in term of productivity (Köhler-Rollefson et al 1991 and Musa et al 2006b).

Milk production

Regular two times milking/day is fully adopted in the semi intensive system (Table 3). Milking as well as other husbandry practices are done by hired laborers with experience in handling camels. A similar observation in the same production system was also reported by Babiker and El Zubeir (2014). Milking is not organized in the nomadic system as nomads collect milk according to their needs. Similar behavior was also reported in Somalia (Mehari et al 2007). It is also noticed that nomads collect milk to prepare a special meal, to prepare gariss (Suliman and El Zubeir 2014), to provide it fresh to guests and also to feed weak or sick calves. It is also given to neighbors, those who have not sufficient milk or offered for free when needed for medicinal purposes (El Zubeir and Nour 2006). In nomadic system, generally, camel milk is mainly used to satisfy the needs of the household.

Camel herders in the semi intensive system benefit from the increased awareness about nutritional and medicinal values of camel milk, which has rapidly increased the consumption of camel milk especially in urban areas; therefore, production of camel milk is the major goal of the system. Although, the concept of selling camel milk is generally not accepted among camel herders in Sudan (Musa et al 2006a), nomadic herders interviewed in this study showed more flexible opinion concerning selling camel milk. In this study, 48% of the interviewed nomadic families supply local markets two times per week with variable amount of fermented camel milk gariss. The earned money is used to buy sugar, tea, flour and other stuff for the household. In the studied nomadic area, women were fully responsible for processing and marketing of gariss, and partially contributed in other husbandry practices like feeding and caring of the newborn animals but they rarely participate in milking, even some of those interviewed in the study area said it is forbidden for women to participate in milking due to tradition and local beliefs. Nevertheless, Suliman and El Zubeir (2014) reported that women have great responsibilities in nomadic camel herders’ communities in El Butana area. Moreover, Talle (1992) mentioned that in Somalia, women have more duties than  men On the other hand, 52% of interviewed nomadic families were against the concept of selling camel milk (Table 3). This is in line with Musa et al (2006a) who reported the same attitude adopted by nomadic tribes in Western Sudan. In general, money earned from selling milk was not an important source of income for nomads. Rather selling male camels or other species (sheep or goats), reared beside camels, is more important. However, fluctuation of prices which are based on general appearance and origin of the animal, rather than the live weight, is a common problem facing nomads.

Camel milk has increasingly high market demand in the urban area of Sudan; nevertheless, lack of roads and organized transportation systems is constraining marketing of this product. Moreover, the high ambient temperature prevailing in the area coupled with lack of cooling facilities reduces the shelf life of the milk thus makes delivery of raw camel milk to the urban market not applicable. Bringing these together, a bridge between the nomadic producing area and the urban consumers is highly needed to transport the product in acceptable quality. Desta and Coppock (2003) concluded that when the economical links between rural areas and urban areas is not well developed, camel milk can’t reach the urban markets in acceptable quality.

Cost of feeding and rearing camels

Sources of feed and costs associated with rearing camels in the semi intensive and nomadic production system are presented in Table 4. Due to the lack of detailed data, camel herders were not able to provide actual figures concerning the cost of rearing camels. Therefore, information about main cost items associated with rearing camel is categorized under feed, taxes and medications. Camel herders in the semi intensive system supply camels with cut forages in addition to concentrates such as groundnut cake. Moreover, mineral supplements (licking stone) is also provided. In the other side, the majority of nomadic herders (60%) depend on natural grazing.

A small group of herders (8%) cultivate crops and use the residues for feeding camels besides natural grazing. The rest of the interviewed herders (32%) purchase crops residues during the dry season to meet the needs of their animals. In all cases, however, nomadic herders supply camels with salt and atron (a source of calcium) by dissolving them in drinking water and mash. Mineral atron is supplied in all seasons to build strong muscles and to increase endurance for long distance movements (Musa et al 2006a).

Under nomadic system, feeding camels is mainly dependent on natural grazing, which is of zero cost; there are however, other unseen costs according to the interviewees (Table 4). Data obtained through personal interviews in this study revealed that rearing camel is a costly activity. This result is in line with Ishag and Ahmed (2011) who concluded that the cost of rearing camel is one of the main obstacles facing camel herders in Sudan. The results also revealed that the main cost items associated with camel herding are feed, taxes and medications. This finding is in partial agreement with Abdalatif et al (2010), who reported that camel herders in East Sudan considered feed and taxes as the most costly items in rearing camels.

Conclusions

• The semi intensive production system showed some advantages for better exploitation of camels and utilization of their products as compared with the traditional nomadic system. The semi-intensive system magnifies the economic role of camels, which sould positively contribute to improve the quality of life of camel herders. It seems to be a suitable alternative for supplying urban areas with camel milk which has a growing market demand, thus raising the monetary value of camel rearing. More studies are urgently needed to evaluate the social, economic and environmental consequences of the establishment of the semi intensive production system.

References

Abdalatif Y M, Mustafa A B and Salih A M 2010 Marketing and export of Gedarif camels from eastern Sudan. Proceedings: Camel in Asia and North Africa, Interdisciplinary workshop on their significance in past and future. 5^th- 7^th Oct. 2010. Vienna, Austria

Babiker W I A and El Zubeir I E M 2014 Impact of husbandry, stages of lactation and parity number on milk yield and chemical composition of dromedary camel milk. Emirate Journal of Food and Agriculture., 26: 333-341

Desta S and Coppock D L 2003 Pastoralist under pressure: Tracking system change in southern Ethiopia. Human Ecology, 32: 465- 486

Eisa M O and Mustafa A B 2011 Production systems and dairy production of Sudan camel (C dromedarius): A Review. Middle East Journal of Scientific Research, 7: 132- 135.

El Zubeir I E M and Nour E M 2006 Studies on some camel management practices and constraints in pre-urban area of Khartoum State, Sudan. International Journal of Dairy Science, 1: 104- 112

Farah Z, Mollet M, Younan M and Dahir R 2007 Camel dairy in Somalia: Limiting factors and development potential. Livestock Science, 110: 187- 191

HCENR 2009 Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resource. Sudan’s 4^th national report to the convention on biological diversity, Khartoum, Sudan

Iqbal A. 2010 Socioeconomic perspective of camel in Pakistan Proceedings: Camel in Asia and North Africa: Interdisciplinary workshop on their significance in past and present. 5^th- 7^th Oct. 2010. Vienna, Austria

Ishag I A and Ahmed M-K A 2011 Characterization of production system of Sudanese camel breeds. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 23, Article #56. Retrieved September 2, 2014, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd23/3/isha23056.htm

Köhler-Rollefson I, Musa B E and Achmed M F 1991 The camel pastoral system of the southern Rashaida in eastern Sudan. Nomadic People, 29: 68- 76

Mehari Y, Mekuriaw Z and Gebru G 2007 Potentials of camel production in Babilie and Kebribeyah woredas of the Jijiga Zone, Somali Region, Ethiopia.Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 19, Article #58. Retrieved September 2, 2014, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd19/4/meha19058.htm

Meszaros S, Banks R G and van der Werf J H 1998 Optimizing breeding structure in sheep flocks when inbreeding depresses genetic gain through effects on reproduction. 6^th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, Australia, V 25.

Mukasa-Mugerwa E 1981 The Camel (C. dromedarius) A Bibliographical Review. International Livestock Central for Africa (monograph5). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Musa H H, Shuiep E S and El Zubier I E M 2006a Camel husbandry among pastoralists in Darfur in Western Sudan. Nomadic People, 10: 101- 105

Musa H H, Shuiep E S, El Zubier I E M and Chen G H 2006b Some reproductive and productive traits of camel (C. dromedarius) in Western Sudan. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 5: 590- 592

Steinfeld H 1998 Livestock and their Interaction with the Environment: An Overview. In: Gill M, Smith T, Pollott G E, Owen E and Lawrence T L J (eds). Food, Lands and Livelihoods: Setting Research Agendas for Animal Science. British Society of Animal Science Occasional Publication, 21: 67- 76

Suliman E S K and El Zubeir I E M 2014 A Survey of the Processing and Chemical Composition of Gariss produced by nomadic camel women herders in Al Gaderif State, Sudan. Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences, 7: 95- 100

Talle A 1992 In: Hijort-af-Oräns A (ed). Security in African dry lands: research, development and policy. Environmental Policy and Society (EPOS). Uppsala, Sweden

Received 6 September 2014; Accepted 26 October 2014; Published 3 November 2014

Go to top