The aim of the community development component is to accompany the implementation of a pasture use plan to prevent desertification. The idea is to increase the added value per reared animal, so that herders can maintain ecologically sound livestock number without loss of earnings. This pasture use plan must in addition allow co-existence of wild and domestic ungulates in Khomiin Tal.
Baby camel wool
We are developping at this moment a baby camel wool marketing chain.Baby camel wool is a high quality product, very soft and warm, and financially more interesting than that of adult. This product is therefore very promising for Khomiin Tal which is an excellent site for Bactrian Camel breeding.
We therefore support the rearing of this animal and supplied members of the Khomiin Tal Women Community with female camels. In this framework contracts were signed, the women commit to:
- sell their wool to TAKH
(which buys it at market price + 50%)
- participate in meetings to plan how to share space between the local domestic horses et the Przewalski's horses in the future
TAKH is now looking for outlets for this wool. We are in touch
with a luxury blanquets and scarfs factory and besides that, we
started to sell it directly to people interested in netting.
If you are also interested, please contact
us. One kilo of washed, dehaired wool is sold 45€ + postal fees.- participate in meetings to plan how to share space between the local domestic horses et the Przewalski's horses in the future
camels after shearing
We are also considering certifying this wool as a 'fairtrade' product because once sold, all the profits will go back to the Women Community. The wool could also be certified as organic, because no chemical is used during camel rearing. They stay year round outside and eat only grass, they have never seen any GMO feed complement!
Felt products (made of sheep wool)
Sheep wool is regularly sold in Mongolia. It is used amongst other to make the felt whose yurt walls are made of. A way to increase the added value of wool is to process it on site. Some items are therefore made in Khomiin Tal (plushes, slippers, toys) and they are sold in our breeding centre in France, at Le Villaret. We are also looking for retail partners for broader marketing. If you are a handycraft or fairtrade products retailer and that you are interested by our products, feel free to contact us.
Small plushes of Przewalski's horses
Wild Horse Mesh
In 2004, the project was awarded a grant from the Rolex Award for Enterprise to rehabilitate a building at Khomiin Tal village in order to organise meetings for knowledge exchange between scientists and local people. This project was called "Wild Horse Mesh" as a tribute to Przewalski's horse.Since then, this building is regularly used for workshops or meetings with herders.
To date, several meetings/workshops with the following topics took place:
- 2005: Biodiversity
- 2006: The horse and other equids
- 2007: Pastoralism
- 2008: Reedbeds and Khomiin Tal transhumant grazing system
- 2010: Creation of a Pasture User Group (PUG) for collective management of pastures