ABSTRACT
Livestock sector receives a considerable share by small ruminants (sheep &
goat) with 85.7 million heads. Sheep (28) and goat (34) breeds in the country reflect
valuable diversity in the gene pool. Mainly they are raised for meat with milk
production as secondary product. Higher goat population (58 million) compared to the
other livestock species indicates its economic importance and adaptation to different
agro-ecological zones of the country. Small ruminants share about 57% of the ruminant
population and 27% of red meat production (i.e., 2191 thousand tones). Despite
diversity among these gene pool, small ruminants are not performing the potential these
animals inherit. There are multiple factors which adversely influence small ruminant
production like under and imbalanced nutrition, lack of well developed marketing
system and disease prevention, etc. and thereby hijacks is the real profit associated with
this enterprise. This paper briefly highlights the potential of small ruminants, possible
constrains to their production and probable remedies to abate these threats.