Saudi Arabia launches ‘Camel Passport’

The government of Saudi Arabia has launched the ‘Camel Passport Project’ to make the camel farming sector in Saudi Arabia more orderly and modern. In a statement on Wednesday (February 4), the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture said that this is a qualitative step to ensure transparency in the sector and increase credibility in the international market.

On Tuesday (February 3) evening, the Ministry’s Deputy Minister Mansour bin Hilal Al-Mushaiti officially inaugurated the project. The main goal of this initiative is to register the ownership of camels, keep health records and maintain the purity of the breed.

This camel passport will serve as a full-fledged identity card, where each camel will have a specific microchip number and passport number. In addition, it will contain detailed information about the camel’s name, date of birth, breed, sex, body color, place of birth and the time and place of issuance of the passport.

To facilitate accurate identification, photos of both sides of the camel will also be added to this passport. Not only the identity, it will have a dedicated vaccination table where the name, signature and seal of the veterinarian, as well as regular health check-ups will be stored. According to the ministry, this digital and official document will help control the purchase and transport of camels and prevent irregularities in the market system.

According to a census in June 2025, the number of camels in Saudi Arabia is currently about 1.22 million. About 80,000 people are involved in the ownership of this large number of camels. With this passport, the movements and health status of each camel will now be stored in a government database, which will play an important role in increasing the quality of the sector both domestically and internationally.

Source: Anadolu Agency.