![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
Camel dairy products have long been recognised as important in pastoralist livelihoods in northern Kenya, but only in recent years has camel milk been marketed commercially in the urban centres of the region. This article charts the commodification of camel milk in Isiolo, considering the evolution from simple urban hawking, led by female vendors, to commercial retail sales and international exports involving investment of higher levels of capital. Gender labour dynamics, and capital investment, emerge as critical themes in this story of camel milk's commodification. The formalisation and regularisation of camel milk sales has inevitably led to a requirement for greater professionalisation and firmer control of production, moving away from the itinerant women who initially pioneered the commodification and towards camel owners who have greater levels of education and who are better able to capitalise the trade.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank members of the Anolei Women Group, the Isiolo Dairy Camel Milk Cooperative, and Holger Marbach, proprietor of VCML, as well as traders in Eastleigh who agreed to be interviewed for this research. The research reported here was conducted with the financial support of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi. Badr Ali Shariff was a member of the fieldwork team, and Tari Doti, Basma Sharrif, Dr Neil Carrier, James Smith, and Hannah Waddilove assisted in other aspects of the project. Benson Kimeu of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) produced maps for the project. We are grateful to the then Assistant Director at BIEA, Dr Matt Davies, for logistical assistance over the duration of the project fieldwork, between April and September 2010.
Notes
1. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 8.
2. Dietz and Zaal, “Of Markets, Meat, Maize and Milk,” 163.
3. This paper is based upon research carried out between April and September 2010, and forms part of a wider project on “Trade and Trust in Northern Kenya,” supported by the British Institute in Eastern Africa. In total, 18 interviews were conducted relating to the camel milk trade, along with three focus group discussions (two with the Anolei Women Group members and one in Eastleigh). Names of all participants referenced in this paper have been changed.
4. For a general overview, see Zaal, Pastoralism in a Global Age; for an example of a specific change in the market in Kenya, see Mahmoud “Innovations in Pastoral Livestock Marketing.”
5. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 166.
6. There is a large literature on the fall of the Barre state; for a brief historical outline, see Lewis, Modern History; for a more anthropological focus, see Simons, Networks of Dissolution.
7. See Goldsmith, “The Somali Impact on Kenya.” Eastleigh is at once a very crowded residential area and an increasingly busy business centre. As well as Somalis, there are many Ethiopians, Eritreans, people from Northern Kenya as well as Meru and others from down Kenya. On Somali refugees in Nairobi, also see Campbell, “Urban Refugees in Nairobi” and Lindley, Early Morning Phonecall, especially chap. 4.
8. See for example, Muthengi, “Kenya's Little Mogadishu Celebrates”; the name “Little Mogadishu” has also been employed by NGOs and academics (see Campbell, “Formalizing the Informal Economy”), but is rarely used on the estate itself, where people often emphasise the “Kenyan-ness” of the area. Authors’ fieldwork, and personal communication with Neil Carrier, August 2011.
9. Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
10. The road after Isiolo is now under construction, led by a Chinese company.
11. Dalleo, “The Somali Role in Organized Poaching.”
12. See Mahmoud, “Breaking Barriers.” For an example of Konso and Burji agricultural activity, see Kenya National Archives, 1953 Marsabit Annual Report.
13. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 1, 8.
14. Hogg, “New Pastoralism,” 320. For a detailed history of the changing patterns of trade in Northern Kenya and specifically among Somalis, see Dalleo, “Trade and Pastoralism.”
15. For a general overview of the history of the north during the colonial era, see Cashmore, “Studies in District Administration.”
16. There is a large literature on this. For examples, see Sobania “Pastoralist Migration”; Farah, From Ethnic Response; Hogg, “New Pastoralism”; and more recently, Roba and Witsenburg, Surviving Pastoral Decline. For an excellent study relating to Pokot, see Eaton, “Violence, Revenge and the History of Cattle Raiding.”
17. During the Shifta War (1963–67), Somalis and other Muslim minorities of the Northern Frontier District fought to secede from Kenya and join the Republic of Somalia. See Whittaker, “Pursuing Pastoralists,” and Mburu, Bandits on the Border.
18. See Castagno, “Somali–Kenyan Controversy,” 170, Mburu, Bandits on the Border, 88; Lewis, Modern History, 184–5.
19. Roba and Witsenburg, Surviving Pastoral Decline, 5. See also De Waal, Famine Crimes, 40–42.
20. Schlee, “Interethnic Clan Identities,” 21; Goldsmith, “Cattle, Khat, and Guns,” 28.
21. George Munji, “Shed Normadism for Development,” Kenya Times, March 4, 1989. See Lochery, “When Citizens are Rendered Stateless,” 22–4, and Africa Watch, Taking Liberties, 292.
22. Dietz and Zaal, “Of Markets, Meat, Maize and Milk,” 168.
23. Anderson, “Rehabilitation, Resettlement, and Restocking,” 240–56.
24. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 2
25. Goldsmith, “Cattle, Khat and Guns,” 38.
27. Authors' interviews in Isiolo, July 2010.
28. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 9; Hjort, “Town-based Pastoralism.” Peter Little has also written about this type of sedentarisation for Baringo – see The Elusive Granary.
29. Zeinab, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
30. Mahmoud, “Camel Marketing in the Northern Kenya/Southern Ethiopia Borderlands.”
31. Elsewhere in the Horn, other pastoralist communities have resorted to trade in camel milk. Many of the factors leading to the trade are similar as those we describe for Kenya; ongoing research by the Future Agricultures Consortium describes the growth of “town camels” and “milk villages” from around towns in the Somali Region of Ethiopia; see Hussein, Tahir and Ali, “Town Camels and Milk Villages” and Hussein, “Town Camels: Pastoral Innovation.” Some factors are context-specific. For example, in Somalia camel milk trade was one response to the ban on livestock sales to Arab nations in 2001. See Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 16, and Nori, Van de Ploeg and Zorini, “Ungoverned Markets,” 7. The resulting decline in livestock trade may have forced pastoralists to urban centres to seek alternative forms of income, thereby creating new pockets of demand for camel milk.
32. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 7–8.
33. Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
34. Schlee, Identities on the Move.
35. As a major part of a pastoral family's diet, it is estimated that a household requires 7 litres of camel milk on average per day: Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 25.
36. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 17.
37. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 17.; Nori, Van de Ploeg and Zorini, “Ungoverned Markets,” 7; Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 15.
38. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 15.
39. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 17–18, citing Wermery.
40. Abdullahi, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
41. For further examples, see Schlee, Identities on the Move, 55, passim.
42. Degen et al., “Market Dependence,” 32.
43. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 13. Informants commented that the disadvantage of the camel milk trade was that it pushed camels nearer to villages where pasture is less abundant due to fields, charcoal clearings and high livestock densities. Consequently, camels were weaker and more susceptible to disease, and their fertility was said to be lower.
44. Hassan and Dubow, interviewed Nairobi, August 2010.
45. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 179–80.
46. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 12–13.
47. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 22; Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 24, notes that during dry seasons, 1 kcal of milk bought up to 8kcal of grains, and during the wet seasons the rate was even better at 1:3.5.
48. Oba writes of the ill-effect milk sales have had on young children in Borana households who traditionally had first claim over milk consumption: Oba, “Changing Property Rights,” 43. See Oba, “The Importance of Pastoralists’ Indigenous Coping Strategies,” 107, for a further account of the diminishing role of livestock foods in pastoralists’ diets.
49. Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010; see also Oba, “The Importance of Pastoralists” Indigenous Coping Strategies,” 104.
50. Sarah, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
51. Behnke, Kerven and Sikana, “From Subsistence to Specialised Commodity Production,” 24. See also Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk.”
52. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 167.
53. Haji, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. Pastoralists from North Eastern Province are also attracted to Isiolo because it receives more frequent rainfall.
54. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 167.
55. Behke, Kerven and Sikana, “From Subsistence to Specialised Commodity Production,” 23. See Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” for a discussion of the impact of the importation of powdered milk as food aid to Somalia on the local dairy trade.
56. Hussein, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
57. Nawal, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
58. Mohamed, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010. Bil means “month” in Somali.
59. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 16–17.
60. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 170–2.
61. CARE Kenya, “Camel Milk Marketing Clusters in Garissa,” 5. Similarly, Hussein reports that in the Somali Region of Ethiopia women are the main buyers of milk to sell in town market and restaurants; see “Town Camels and Milk Villages.”
62. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 170; Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 10. See Dahl “Mats and Milk Pots,” 132, for a description of the Borana woman's traditional role as “milk manager,” whereby “milk, in contrast to other pastoral products, constitutes a relatively autonomous female domain of decision-making,” prior to dairy trading as part of a livelihood strategy.
63. Sarah, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
64. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 10; see also Fratkin et al., “Pastoral Sedentarization.”
65. Oba, “The Importance of Pastoralists’ Indigenous Coping Strategies,” 104.
66. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 16–17.
67. Herren, “Then Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 16; Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 170; see also Hjort, “Town-based Pastoralism,” 327, which describes many of the poor peri-urban families in Isiolo as headed by women who have been divorced, widowed, or abandoned by their husbands.
68. Nori et al., “Milking Drylands,” 20, citing UNIFEM 1998. This idea of the importance of ambigious clan affiliations in trade is also discussed by Warsame, “Crisis or Opportunity?”
69. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 16–17; Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 170–2.
70. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 9, describe sedentarisation as a process that operates along a continuum from highly mobile pastoralists to permanently settled households, of which individuals may move from one domain to the other.
71. Zahra and Amina referred to “before” when camels were situated far away from Isiolo.
72. Muna, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
73. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 19.
74. Hjort, “Town-based Pastoralism,” 156.
75. Fatuma, interviewed Eastleigh, July 2010.
76. CARE Kenya, “Camel Milk Marketing Clusters in Garissa.”
77. See Horst, Transnational Nomads, 78.
78. Nori, Van de Ploeg and Sorini, “Ungoverned Markets,” 3.
79. Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” iv. Authors’ research in 2011 indicated that 7th Street had the most milk traders.
80. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi report that traders send milk to Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, see “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 27. However, further research in July 2011 reported that towns like Mombasa and Nakuru increasingly source milk from pastoralists who are herding camels in close proximity to these markets, indicating further spread of the phenomenon of dairy camel herds being maintained close to urban markets. See Elliott, “Drinking Culture,” 33. Recent research by the Future Agricultures Consortium similarly describes a pattern of “town camels” and “milk villages” surrounding urban centres in the Somali Region of Ethiopia – see Hussein, “Town Camels and Milk Villages.”
81. News reports from 2007 explained that milk was being nightly transported to Kampala on an Akamba bus; see Jaramogi, “Uganda: Kisenyi – a Haven for Somali Tranquillity or Scams?”
82. Anolei means “milk people” in Somali: Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
83. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
84. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. Garre usually speak both Boran and Somali – Boran being the mother tongue, and Somali the language of socialisation or akanki: Abdullahi, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010. Also see Schlee, Identities on the Move.
85. Zahra, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
86. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
87. Zahra, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
88. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 47–8.
89. Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. Fratkin and Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, 10, note dramatic changes in terms of customs and relationships which settled townspeople undergo, in spite of continued ties to pastoral communities. They describe in particular a departure from kin-based relations in the pastoral communities to individualised identities in the towns, including the adoption of capitalist concepts of private property and individual gain.
90. Drawn from Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010; Zahra, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010; and Zahra and Amina, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
91. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. The buying price in Isiolo was then 50/- per litre, the selling price to Eastleigh wholesalers being 70/- per litre: Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. See also Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 46.
92. Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 15.
93. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya.”
94. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 47, explain that there is resistance to using aluminium cans because the transporters claim they are too heavy and refuse to carry them. Plastic jerry cans are therefore still in use.
95. Mohamed, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
96. Abdullahi and Ali, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010; Lela, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
97. Ali, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
98. Sarah, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
99. Lela, interviewed, Isiolo, July 2010.
100. Abdullahi and Ali, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
101. Sarah, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010; Mohamed, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
102. Lela, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
103. Hashi, cited by Behnke, Kerven and Sikana, “From Subsistence to Specialised Commodity Production.”
104. Hussein, “Town Camels and Milk Villages.”
105. Elliott, “Drinking Culture,” 33.
106. As appeared to be suspected by the Anolei coordinator, Abdi. Interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
107. Lela, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
108. Lela, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
109. Musinga, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” 82.
110. Lindley, Early Morning Phone Call, 31
111. FAO, “The Next Thing.”
112. Al Ain Dairy, “All Things Camel.”
113. Fletcher, “Camel Milk.”
114. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,” iv.
115. Musinga, Kimenye and Kivolonzi, “The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya,”, 49; CARE Kenya, “A Report on the Camel Milk Marketing Clusters in Garissa,” 10 and 17. Holger Marbach, interviewed Nanyuki, November 2010.
116. Holger Marbach, interviewed Nanyuki, November 2010.
117. Vital Camel Milk Ltd, “Products.”
118. CARE Kenya, “A Report on the Camel Milk Marketing Clusters in Garissa,” 17.
119. CARE Kenya, “A Report on the Camel Milk Marketing Clusters in Garissa,” 17.
120. Holger Marbach, interviewed Nanyuki, November 2010.
121. Abdi, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
122. Sarah, interviewed Isiolo, July 2010.
123. Abdullahi, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
124. Fatuma, interviewed Eastleigh, July 2010. Female milk hawkers tended to find our question about why there were no men hawking milk very funny – they told us that men don't sit in the road to sell milk or any other product.
125. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets”; Herren, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk.”
126. Little, “The Commercial Sale of Camel Milk,” 180.
127. Dolan, “The Good ‘Wife’.”
128. Degen et al., “Market Dependence,” 39.
129. Behnke, Kerven and Sikana, “From Subsistence to Specialised Commodity Production,” 27–8.
130. Abdullahi and Ali, interviewed Isiolo, June 2010.
131. Morgan Siloma, Adviser on agriculture (livestock) for SNV, interviewed Nairobi, February 2012.
132. Wahome, “Focus Shifts to the Camel as Next Cash Cow”; Oduor, “Plans Underway to Install Camel Milk Dispensers in Towns.”
133. Little, “Maidens and Milk Markets,” 165–6.