Residents of Limuru have been urged to diverse livestock keeping by embracing camel rearing.
An agriculturalist on Tuesday said inadequate physical and institutional support and poor marketing had been cited as constraints inhibiting many farmers from embracing camel rearing.
Liaison officer at the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (KSPCA) Jeff Kariuki said camels were popular for their delicious meat and milk which could be relied on to create jobs.
Speaking on Tuesday in Limuru, Kariuki cautioned that like any other animal anyone who may be found mistreating camels will be punished.
He explained that KSPCA had 450 registered members whose aim was promoting and creating appropriate technologies that add value to camel milk and meat generating more income to farmers.
He said that although camels were known to be kept by pastoralists, farmers who can diversify and join the industry were likely to rip big.
“A mature trained sport camel fetches close to Sh200,000 while an untrained one goes for between Sh50,000 to 100,000," he said.
He added that prices of camels have risen 20 times for the last 3 years following opening up of a camel export corridor to other parts of the world like Ethiopia and Middle East.
Kariuki said a camels can produce 20 litres of milk per day or more depending on the type of food given noting that although they ate any kind of vegetation, it was necessary to provide Napier, maize stems and energy giving foods such as bran for optimum gains.
The KSPSA official urged the government to start sensitising meet farmers to train and educate them on how to rear camels adding that dams and pans should be created to provide enough water for the animals.
“If the government could create space to offer farmers with training and education then we would be counting us as millionaires because those who keep this animal are for sure earning lots of money,” he said.