Global overview of camel ~ Some quick facts

Productivity

Camel is a unique animal with a very strong and stable power of productivity. 

Camel milk: Three is no visible improvement in camel dairy productivity. Also, data collection method is poor for a camel. According to the international data, there is only 2.5 percent increase in camel milk worldwide. About the aspect of consumption, Saudi Arabian people are the top consumer of camel milk, top at world level.

Camel meat: Camel meat makes 0.13 percent of total meat production of the world. Unfortunately, there is higher meat consumption than camel overall growth in population. But still data on camel meat is lacking, i.e. there is no data on camel meat in Pakistan.

There is no correlation in consumption of camel product and GDP of the nations.

Some more fact

·         The research work and publications are mostly originated from camel countries.

·     There is no correlation between economic importance and camel number of publications. It means there is no link between the number of research work and the economic importance of camel in that country.

There is growing interest of western researchers for camel as a biological model, resulted in slight increasing in number of publications
There is still limited work on camel genetic, breeding and selection etc.
 Also, there is lack of reliable data on camel meat quality and marketing
Adaptation of camel to intensification is there but the results are no yet well known
The camel is not endangered species at the global level but its development is quite unequal,  It mean, it is introducing in new habitats, especially in Africa
Some camel pastoralist’s communities are replacing cattle nomadism with camel nomadism.
 Still there is lack of knowledge on camel
International Society of Camelids Research and Development (ISOCARD) resulted in significant development on camel research and publications.

ABSTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF DR BERNARD FAYE, EMINENT SCIENTIST OF CAMEL WORLD.

Camel Meat

Camel meat is praised for its good quality, especially if it is derived from the calf. The major meat contents i.e. moisture, protein, fat and ash are reported as 71, 21.4, 4.4 and 1.1% respectively. Camels are good potential meat producers especially in arid regions where other meat-producing animals do not thrive. They grow well and yield carcasses of a comparable weight to beef cattle if optimal management conditions are provided. Camel meat, especially from young animals, contains low fat with low cholesterol as well as being a good source of amino acids and minerals. Camel meat is less tender than beef are probably due, at least in part, to the higher average animal age. The author recommend more research work in areas of meat production, technology, marketing, and social awareness is needed to exploit the potential of camels as a source of meat.