"It's excellent for the camel population if the price of oil continues to go up because demand for camels will also go up," says Ilse Kohler-Rollefson of the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development. "Two years ago, a camel cost little more than a goat, which is nothing. The price has since trebled."
The shift comes not a moment too soon for a national camel population that has fallen more than 50 per cent over the past decade, to about 450,000, according to government figures.
Market prices for these "ships of the desert", which crashed with the growing affordability of motorised transport, are rising again as oil prices soar.
A sturdy male with a life expectancy of 60-80 years now fetches up to Rs40,000 ($973), compared to Rs5,000-Rs10,000 three years ago, according to Hanuwant Singh of the Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, a non-profit welfare organisation for livestock keepers. Entry-level tractors cost around $4,000.
"It's very good news," says Mr Singh, whose organisation aims to dispel the image of backwardness associated with camel ownership and tries to promote higher economic returns for breeders. "We had started to see camels, even female ones, being slaughtered for their meat. Now they are replacing the tractor
again."
It is too soon to say that the future for camels is bright. Shrinking grazing areas and a lack of investment in fodder trees may thwart a sustainable revival. Inadequate nutrition undermines the resilience of camel herds, making them vulnerable to disease and lowering birth rates.
The LPPS is encouraging the Raika community - traditional guardians of the camel population since the days when Maharajahs rode them into battle - to diversify into products such as camel milk, optimistically dubbed "the white gold of the desert", camel leather handbags and camel bone jewellery.
Animal-lovers hope that the surge in oil prices will enhance the status of camel-breeders, who resent the lack of respect society has accorded their traditional knowledge, and give the Raika a strong incentive to stop selling female camels for slaughter.
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