The projected value of the global camel milk market ranges from US$2 billion to US$13 billion by the end of the decade.
Camels evolved to cope with very hot days and freezing cold desert nights. They can go for days with little water or vegetation, and produce less methane than cows, sheep and other ruminants. We have spent many years working with mobile camel herders in rural Arabia and Central Asia. We fear that a switch to industrialised camel farming will not only be bad for the environment, but will also mean crucial traditional knowledge and intangible cultural heritage is lost. It would be a shame if these “ships of the desert” end up as livestock stuck in a small paddock.The trend is driven by burgeoning demand for camel milk as an alternative to cow, sheep and goat milk.
The increasing demand for both fresh and powdered camel milk is exemplified by the rise in small dairies in the least expected places, such as an Amish-Saudi collaboration in the US. More are being built, and in early 2024, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund announced further investment. International camel herder participants who gathered at one recent workshop in Rajasthan, India, released a statement saying they reject the “extractive model of animal production that was first superimposed on many camelid countries in colonial times”. They are wary of adopting a model for industrialised camel keeping that is “dependent on fossil fuels, chemical inputs and imported feed”.
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