Jaipur, April 22 (PTI): The sale of raw and pasteurised camel milk has shot up by over 79 per cent and 111 per cent, respectively, since 2013-14 due to its rising demand across the country, officials said.
According to data from National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), Bikaner, the sale of raw camel milk, which was 5,088 litres in the year 2013-14 recorded 79.32 percent rise in 2017-18 with sale of 9,124 litres.
A similar trend was witnessed in sale of pasteurised milk, which witnessed 111.44 per cent rise during the period. 2,145 litres of pasteurised camel milk was sold in 2017-18 as against 1,145 litres in 2013-14, the data revealed.
Pasteurised and raw camel milk are mostly consumed for their health benefits. Various scientific studies have proven the benefits of camel milk in diseases like diabetes, autism and arthritis due to its rich protein, vitamin and anti-oxidant properties, said director of NRCC Dr N. V. Patil.
“Unlike cow and goat milk, camel milk has a different taste, which most of the people use for health benefits. With ample number of researches proving benefits of camel milk in health disorders, a rise in its sale has been witnessed over the past few years,” he said.
In a research conducted in 2016-17 at NRCC on the role of camel milk in recovery of autistic and mentally retarded children, a total 108 children who were provided camel milk therapy.
An overall 30.22 per cent improvement from pre to post-treatment score in all the children was observed.
The children having pre-treatment scores up to 75 showed improvement of 43-58 per cent and children having pre- treatment score of 90 had shown improvement of up to 34%.
The revenue generated through sale of camel milk and its products through milk parlours was registered at Rs 11.98 lakh in 2017-18 against Rs 3.37 (RPT) 3.37 lakh in 2013-14, the NRCC data states.
“We are not able to export camel milk despite its demand in the market. We are in talks with the government to set up a society like Amul to process milk. Also, dwindling camel population is a grave concern,” he said.
