Book Reviews

INTRODUCING THE CAMEL, by Peter Grill. Lamar Witmer in Kenya sent us a copy of this unique book. He wrote, “I’ve read a number of books about camels. The one I am sending you is the one I believe to be the most useful as a single guide for development workers among pastoralists who herd camels. It emphasizes practical concerns rather than purely scientific ones. It was written from the perspective of eastern Africa, which may limit its usefulness in other regions.

"One of the problems is that it was printed by special project money in 1987 and only a limited supply remains.” Well, we agreed that it was a practical and unique book that should be easily available. So it was reprinted by the Mennonite Central Committee Office in the USA for distribution by ECHO.

It is a 149 page, spiral bound book. Chapter titles include: habitat of camels; camel adaptations to heat stress; reproduction (reproductive habits, rutting behavior, signs of oestrus, oestrus cycle, coitus, pregnancy testing, parturition); raising camel calves; establishing a camel breeding herd; products from the camel (milk production, composition and products, meat, blood, hides and wool, misc.); the riding camel (uses, selecting, pace, selecting by age, training, handling, weight bearing, breaking the lead, riding saddle), camels as beasts of burden (potential uses, capacity, age for training, moving a camel train, loading a camel, types of baggage saddles, making a baggage saddle, draft camels, plowing with the camel, other uses as a power source); buying camels (marketing system, difficulties, selecting, determining the age); feeding and watering camels (eating habits, feeding management, watering, drinking rate); common camel health problems in Kenya (general health, signs of a sick camel, examining the camel, common health problems, diseases [ protozoal, bacterial, viral, internal parasites, external parasites, other problems]); developing a record system.

An excerpt from the feeding chapter follows. “Camels are primarily browsers. This gives them an advantage over cattle because they will eat leaves from trees in addition to grass much more readily than cattle will. … [this] makes them ideal animals to add to the livestock mix of commercial ranches. Some ranchers in Kenya have added camels to their cattle and small stock ranching system so that they can use the camels to open up new pasture areas for the small stock. In dense brush the camels are brought in to browse the bushes. This breaks up some of the dense brush so that the goats can come in and browse the lower branches. The goats thin out the foliage so that the sun can reach the grasses. The additional sunlight increases the growth of the grass so that the cattle and sheep have more to eat. … they increase the carrying capacity of the land for cattle and sheep in addition to the meat and milk from camels who are eating what would normally be unused by the other stock.”

You can order from ECHO for $5 plus postage as follows: US $1.50; airmail to Africa and Asia $8.50; South America $5.00.

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR THE SAHEL. Someone in our network in Mali (I lost track of who it was sorry!) brought this book to our attention. This beautiful 525 page book is still relatively compact (15x21 cm) for ease of carrying with you into the field.

The most striking feature is the large number of color photographs. Color photos illustrate the entire tree as well as such closeups as bark, foliage, flowers, fruits and/or seeds. For each tree, one page is devoted to photos and one to a written summary of key points (scientific name, family, description, distribution, site requirements, uses and references). Often, presumably for more important trees, additional pages of pictures and text are given. Appendices give vernacular names (in Bambara, Djerma, French, Gourmanche, Haussa, More, Peulh, Serer, Tamachek and Wolof); seed weights, pictures of seeds and fruits; and a list of botanical terms in English, German and French.

Order from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit; DagHammarskjoldWeg 1 + 2; D 6236 Eschborn 1; Germany. If you write on official letterhead explaining how you would use it in your work with agricultural development in the Sahel, there is a good chance they would send it at no cost. Others inquire as to price.

A TOOL KIT FOR FOLKS INVOLVED IN AGROFORESTRY. (Reviewed by Scott Sherman).

IIRR’s Agroforestry Technology Information Kit is just the kind of practical resource we are always looking for. We’ve been reading about it in various reviews for a couple of years now, but for some reason never ordered a copy until recently. The kit is a collection of practical, wellillustrated summary sheets on various technologies related to agroforestry and sustainable agriculture in the tropics. The kit was originally designed for use by social forestry officers and technicians in the Philippines. Some of the common names of plants etc. will not be familiar to most, but the information contained in the kit would be of interest to a wide range of development workers.

Topics are divided into the following basic categories (followed by a sampling of topics in that section): Soil and Water Conservation Technologies and Agroforestry Systems (SALT1, alley cropping, in-row tillage, Aframe use and construction, vegetative barriers, controlling cogon [grass], etc.); Annual Cropping System (cover crop selection, upland rice cultivation, root crops, cultural pest management, etc.); Seeds and Plant Propagation (seed: collection, processing, testing, storage, and pregermination treatments; tree nursery establishment and management; plant propagation, transplanting, etc.); Trees and Their Management (SALT3, boundary plantings and shelter belts, pruning, fruit trees for harsh environments, growing bamboos, bank stabilization, species comparisons, etc.); Livestock Production (SALT2, forced feeding, housing, plantbased medications, intensive feed gardens); and HomeLot Technologies (medicinal plants, biointensive gardening with agroforestry, miniponds for dry areas, fertilizer from farm wastes, etc.). There is probably nothing in the kit that ECHO does not already have in our resource center. However, to have it all summarized in a highly pictorial manner, in one neat package, is very helpful. Basically, it is a collection of simple, proven, basic, sustainable technologies with potential for further exploitation by resourcepoor farmers. Kits are available for $20.00 from: The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 1270, New York, NY 10115. (Kits are presumably available as well from their office in the Philippines. If you are in Asia, write for specifics to IIRR, Silang, Cavite 4118, PHILIPPINES).