Rejuvenating into Peer Reviewed Science, The Traditional Knowledge is Worth to be Advocated

After the university education, when I joined the practical field of animal agriculture, a wide gap of understanding was visualized between the university education and the traditional knowledge (TK) existed in the field. My bookish knowledge was limited to modern but high input livestock rearing systems while the livestock keepers were enriched with the traditional knowledge, they have absorbed through generations. Please do not misunderstand me as “negating the importance of modern science” but take it as the reality of the field. That time, I did not try mindfully to understand the reality of the traditional knowledge and always nullify it as the other fellow field workers did.

In reality, it was a flaw of critical thinking that a treasure of TK was hiding from my eyes beside of my roots in the traditional animal agriculture. Then nature came into its own way to indoctrinate me the reality of the traditional knowledge. In 2003, I was grabbed by a severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and stuck to bed for some days. My claws swelled up and I was even unable to walk. The traditional healers advised me to take fresh camel milk from the mobile herds. I acted upon the advice and joined the mobile camel herds in Musakhail My Camel Story and World Camel Day. The treatment (taking fresh camel milk) was so easy to get and so speedy to recover.  I recovered soon (in a week) and started climbing the mountains with the pastoralists in the region.

Gosh, then another difficult time approached, the fellow colleagues did not convince with the magic of camel milk. Even some people laughed at me and the others asked for the scientific references. Though a bit later but a peer-reviewed scientific work has been published very recently, advocating camel milk as the remedy of the RA Camel Milk Attenuates Rheumatoid Arthritis Via Inhibition of Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Pathway. 

My interest inspired me to join the centuries-old institution of the traditional livestock keepers and learn the knowledge of people (People and Animal Agriculture~The Philosophy of the Low Carbon Livestock) which gave the sense of a holistic approach (the philosophy of symbiosis) to natural health The Philosophy of Symbiosis and Gut’s Role in Natural Health. I documented a wide range of TK with practical aspects in the field of the animal agriculture but the main focus was always the precious camel. When I realized that a sufficient variety of traditional knowledge is absorbed, I returned to the university with a new approach and launched PhD program to give my views a strong coverage with a doctorate degree. As a first step, I conducted a study on the milk production potential of Kohi (breed) camel in the Suleiman Mountainous Region of Balochistan MILK PRODUCTION POTENTIAL AS AFFECTED BY PARITY AND AGE IN THE KOHI DROMEDARY CAMEL. The study revealed that camel is a tremendous animal with a potential of persistent milking ability even in the difficult times of the year Camel-a potential dairy animal in difficult environments. 

During my surveys and work with the camel keepers, I noticed some camels with extraordinary production potential (up to 35 kg milk/day). The survey reports attracted the attention of policy makers both at national and global level. Soon, I found myself stuck in a complex situation and huge debate, “the references”. Some quarters even pressurized me to give up the claims but I never surrendered. Nature came with a help again, in a way that I joined a modern camel dairy in the UAE. Here a huge set of data comprising thousands of camel milk production records, supporting my claims. I hope, soon we shall be able to publish such a precious data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal to give my claims a peer reviewed umbrella.

Seeing all this help from nature, I quoted today as “success is a journey, not a single moment”.