Rich Snail

First time here? You may want to read more about Rich Snail or even receive regular updates via a RSS feed reader or by email. Good read!

With oil prices hitting new high every day, many Americans are starting to re-consider their SUV, Hummers, and other oil-thirsty cars. Some Indians find another way to solve this problem. The Financial Times has a very interesting article on how the current rising food and energy prices give a second life to traditional transportation “vehicles”.

“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 Köhler-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.”…

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.”

Funny how things turn out for our spitting friends. Instead of being eaten because of rising food prices, they are now seen as a viable alternative to tractors - despite rising food prices.