Since 1996, LPPS has been working with the camel pastoralists of Rajasthan.
LPPS (Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan) was formed at the request of the Raika camel breeders, who wanted better access to veterinary care for their camels. We initially concentrated on the two main camel diseases, trypanosomiasis and mange, as little treatment was available at the time.
We continue to provide camel medicines at affordable prices today.
For twenty years, we have promoted camel dairy production, researching and introducing new dairy products including camel milk ice cream. We help to supply camel milk to diabetics and others around Jaisalmer and to autistic children in Delhi.
Our social enterprise, Camel Charisma, develops camel products as sources of income for local communities. Widows in a village near Jaisalmer spin wool for our rugs. Rural women make camel milk soaps. Our production unit in Sadri makes desert paper and greetings cards. Camel Charisma products are sold in our shop and at Pushkar Fair and will soon be available online.
Our goal is to create sustainable rural livelihoods in semi-arid and arid areas. With the right support, new products can create opportunities for rural entrepreneurs and their families.
We have researched traditional knowledge of desert plants and ethnoveterinary care (traditional animal medicines and treatments) and have worked to encourage best practice and improve camel welfare over many years.
We keep a resident camel herd looked after by two Raika herders and have started a Camel Conservation Farm on our campus at Sadri. We have set up the facilities to process the products from living camels - milk, wool, and poo - to demonstrate what can be done to create income for camel herders.
Our Mission
Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan means ‘welfare organization for livestock keepers’ in Hindi.
LPPS has its base in Sadri in Rajasthan, the drought-prone state in the west of India, where mobile livestock keeping has always been the mainstay of its rural people, especially its pastoralist societies.
Its work continues to be inspired and shaped by its close association with the camel pastoralist communities of Rajasthan. It works to promote people-centred livestock development and the sustainable management of biodiversity rich agro-ecosystems.
“LPPS and the Raika camel pastoralists of Rajasthan have been at the forefront of global efforts to integrate pastoralist cultures into the modern world.”
“If a Raika can go to Switzerland, he can go anywhere.”
What we've achieved
- Twenty years of providing camel medicines at affordable prices for camel breeders.
- In 2002, Dr Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, Co-Founder of LPPS, was made a Rolex Awards Laureate.
- During the period of an LPPS camel project between 2003 and 2008 Jaisalmer became the only district in Rajasthan to show any increase in camel numbers since 1995.
- Raika delegates were amongst the speakers at the FAO's First International Conference on Animal Genetic Resources in 2007.
- In 2004, 2008 and 2010, LPPS organised national workshops and international conferences on saving the camel, with experts from countries including Dubai, Oman, France and Kazakhstan.
- LPPS invited camel dairy expert Nancy Abeiderrahmane from Tiviski Camel Dairy in Mauritania to prepare a consultancy report on camel dairy.
- Since 2009, LPPS has introduced new camel products including camel milk ice cream, camel milk soap, and camel dung paper (a world first).
- LPPS products now provide income for members of pastoralist and other local communities, including rural widows.
- In 2011, LPPS founded Camel Charisma to develop and market camel products.
- In 2013 a team of local and international volunteers achieved record sales of Camel Charisma products at Pushkar Fair.
- In 2014, LPPS was awarded the Marwar Ratna Award for Cultural Heritage Preservation by the renowned Mehrangarh Museum Trust. The award was presented by HH Maharaja Gaj Singhji of Jodhpur.
- LPPS and the Raika pastoralists have achieved international recognition for their role in developing BioCultural Protocols, now being adopted by governments in their implementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
- In 2015, LPPS made India's first camel cheese.
- From 6-8 November 2015 the first Marwar Camel Cultural Festival took place in Sadri, a new event for the region developed by LPPS and local communities.