54 BUSINESS Good, bad, ugly sides of rearing camels
Once harmattan sets in, camel herders get restless until all adult camels in their herd are sold. This is because the animals at that stage grow wild and have the tendency of attacking and killing anyone in sight at the slightest provocation. This is because camels generally become hostile during the season due to its low temperature. Unlike other animals, even their shepherds, the closest to them, could be violently attacked, particularly when they have retired to bed. So, at such a time, their herders are only comfortable with the younger camels that can be controlled.
When the camels attack, they overrun the herders’ shelters, which are usually thatched. They trample and bite wildly until their victim dies.
Sa’adu Danbuzua, from Niger Republic is a camel herder. He said Tuaregs, Wodaabes from Niger republic, and Fulani herders from Nigeria are the ethnic groups that mostly rear camels and pointed out that unlike other animals, camel rearing is not stressful because herders do not follow them for grazing, but rather, allow them to roam. To identify their herd, owners ensure that a branded mark is engraved on each animal with a hot iron. However, pasturing styles differ, where some herders provide feeds for their animals that come to eat even if they are in the bush.
Signs that Mouth foam and insistence aggressiveness, even among peers are some of the Common signs of what Danbuzua calls, seasonal camel madness, includes foaming at the mouth and aggressiveness which leads to fierce fighting among the male adults. “When it’s a human, they kick, trample, bite, and can lift and fling one,” he said.
The secretary of the Camel Dealers Association of Maigatari town of Nigeria/ Niger border camel market, Babandi Umaru said during harmattan season, majority of the camels supplied to the market are of adult stock because every herder needs to sell them as soon as possible. Despite this glut, the prices of the animals remain the same. Buyers, mostly butchers, troop into the market because it is during that period well fed camels are brought for sale.
Umaru explained that at present, Maigatari Camel Market of Maigatari Local Government Area of Jigawa State is the biggest camel market in Nigeria. It is supplied with about 1000 camels every market day, with major suppliers to the market being Nigeriens from the town of Sudu, Gure and Gidigir towns of Niger republic.
The camels are basically bought for consumption and domestic work. Butchers, who are the major buyers, sell as meat, while a few others from Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states buy for farm and domestic purposes. Unlike other livestock, people from the southern part of the country do not patronize camels, hence their trading is only limited to the north.
A well-fed camel cost as much as N250, 000, while a small one goes as low as N40,000. In a situation where one’s camel is not sold in Maigatari Market, the owner must be ready to go to Mai’adua Camel Market in Katsina State as there is no alternative camel market in the entire state.
Audu Kute has been a labourer in Maigatari Camel Market for over 30 years. He specializes in loading camels into vehicles. He said that among all live stocks, camels are the only animals with a great phobia for vehicles, so much that some die at the verge of being loaded into a vehicle. At different instances, camels died while being led into a vehicle because most of them have never been transported.
Another thriving business in the market is the sale of camel urine and milk, Mohammed Lawal, a seller, said, adding that they serve as cure for some ailments when consumed, function like antibiotics and believed to treat typhoid fever, ulcer, hepatitis, digestive system problems, cancer, and skin diseases.
But how true is this? Dr. Kabir Ibrahim of Jigawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said the only available information he got indicated that the daily consumption of camel milk in an adjuvant therapy for the management of type one diabetes has proved to be effective, adding that for the use of camel urine he is yet to come across any medical information that validates it.